Ozian Adventures: Of Saints and Sinners
by wickedmetalviking1990
Summary: Sequel to "The Witch's Saga". Elphaba, Fiyero and Glinda find themselves back in Oz, but is this the Oz they know? What hidden secrets will they need to uncover in order to survive?
1. Back in Oz

**(AN: This has definitely taken a _very_ long while to update, but my _Ozian Adventures_ shall continue! I hope that at least some people are reading them and enjoying them. Don't want to reveal too much, so just read ahead)**

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><p><strong>Back in Oz<strong>

The light slowly faded away, and the three Ozians and their horse found themselves once again sitting upon grass that was familiar. The bright red, butterfly roses that sat all around them, the still, humid air and the smell of standing water was unmistakable, even for ones who had never been this far south in their whole lives.

This was Quadling, the southern-most land of Oz.

However, as the Ozians got to recognizing their surroundings, they also saw that things were much different. The lack of any people or houses was believable, since Quadling was known for being as wild as the Vinkus. In fact, the only reason greater Oz - pretty much Gilikin and Munchkinland - gave this land of marshy fens any pause were the legends that rubies lay beneath the swamps.

The major difference was with the young woman named Elphaba Thropp. She was green again.

But the most shocking thing was, perhaps, that Elphaba was green and Fiyero, her lover, who was a Scarecrow in Oz, hadn't changed a single bit since how he looked in Midgard.

Fully human.

"Elphie," Glinda commented with a gasp. "You're green again!"

"I know," she breathed, looking down at her long, emerald fingers at the ends of her hands. Seeing Fiyero look toward her, she flinched as if struck and hid her face from him by turning away.

"No, 'Yero!" she cried. "Don't look at me, I'm hideous!"

"Fae..."

"Don't lie to me!" Elphaba was now sincerely sobbing.

Fiyero shook his head. It's not like we haven't gone around this particular bush before. I wonder why I'm not made of straw anymore...and I'm thinking, why am I thinking? Is something terrible going to happen because I'm thinking?

"Elphaba," he said, returning to using her full name. "Look at me!" He placed himself in front of her, both hands on her small, bony shoulders. Elphaba hung her head, keeping it out of view.

"The Elphaba I fell in love with," he began. "Was green, and I thought she was beautiful. That's you, Fae! You're not ugly, honestly!"

A single sniffling noise came from Elphaba's head.

Glinda joined Fiyero, placing her little hand upon Elphaba's shoulder.

"He's right," she said. "You're exactly the way we remember you."

The head of long, black hair slowly rose up, the oily black tresses falling aside to reveal the face. It was exactly how it had been before any of this had happened, before Kiamo Ko, before Middle-Earth, before Midgard: her face looked like no time had passed. Though she was still thin from days without food, she looked as healthy as a thin, green woman could be expected to look. There was nothing that looked abnormal or hideous about her face, even the rigid, angular shape of the chin, nose and cheek-bones held the same loveliness as before.

So why did she suddenly think of herself as ugly?

"Fae," Fiyero said. "I need you to stay with me. We're fine now, we're back home. Just be calm, okay?"

Elphaba nodded without saying another word.

"Uh," Glinda commented. "Which part of 'home' are we in, exactly?"

They looked around once again at their surroundings. It was all too alien to them, too unfamiliar.

"It's too hot," Glinda complained. True, there was a severe amount of humidity in the air.

"Well, that rules out Gilikin," Elphaba said. "At any rate, it doesn't look like Munchkinland."

"It's not the Vinkus either," Fiyero added. "We had some hot days down there, but it was always a dry heat."

Glinda gasped. The other two turned to her in surprise, as if she had been hurt.

"What if," she breathed. "What if we're in the mysteriocious lands of the South?"

"Quadling?" Elphaba queried.

"Sure looks swampy," Fiyero commented, taking a look at a near-by bog that chirped and warbled with Oz knows what creatures he had never heard hiding just beneath the surface. He heard a weak sigh and turned to see Elphaba raise her hand up to her forehead.

"You alright, Fae?"

"Hmm? Oh, I think so. I think I'm getting nauseous."

"It's probably the heat." Fiyero replied, tugging at his collar. "It's getting to me too."

Elphaba looked at Fiyero oddly.

"What?"

"You shouldn't even be able to feel anything," she said. "Not this humidity, not even this..." She hit his shoulder with her green fist.

"Ow." he said, rubbing his shoulder.

"You're..." Her words failed her as her head reeled from whatever was wrong with her.

"But how's that possible?" Glinda asked, understanding exactly what Elphaba was talking about.

"Can we talk about it later?" Fiyero asked as Elphaba swayed unsteadily where she stood. He put his arm around her shoulders to keep her on her feet. "This heat's getting to us really bad." He waved Glinda over to them. The little blond gripped Elphaba's shoulders with her little hands.

Fiyero, meanwhile, began tearing off his shirt.

"W-What are you doing?" Elphaba asked.

"It's too hot here," Fiyero said, as he took off his outer shirt. "We need to lose some of our clothes, we dressed for cold weather."

"Fiyero!" Glinda gasped. "What a thing to say!"

"I heard stories," Fiyero said, as he took off his under-shirt, the green Scarecrow shirt. "When I was a boy, about the first explorers from Gilikin to map the Vinkus. They suffered in the heat because of their heavy clothing. The heat is enough, but the humidity makes it feel ten times worse."

Both of the women said nothing, trying to wonder whether Fiyero's suggestion had merit or if it was just foolishness. Fiyero threw his shirt to the ground, bearing his muscular upper body for the two ladies to view: the real reason they couldn't speak a word.

"Come on," Fiyero said.

"Fiyero," Glinda gasped, her face flushing red.

"What?"

Silence filled the little glen in which the three Ozians stood, the only noises coming from the bog or the neighs from Nessa.

Glinda sighed then walked behind Nessa, leaving Elphaba by herself. Fiyero ran over to her side and kept her steady while the little blond began tearing apart her clothing. When she walked back out, it looked like she hadn't gone as far as Fiyero had. Her skirt was still intact, but the corset and various other accessories of her bodice were removed, with the top ends of two night-gowns as her upper covering.

"You're still going to be boiling in that," Fiyero commented. "And I wouldn't throw your clothes away just yet. We're going north-west, remember?"

Glinda nodded. Fiyero then turned to Elphaba.

"No." she refused.

"Please, Fae." he returned. "We don't need you collapsing from heat-sickness."

She shook her, resolutely determined to refuse his decision.

"At least lose the cloak, okay?" Fiyero suggested, removing the cloak from off her shoulders. It was not the one Glinda gave her that day in the attic of the Emerald Palace, but a different one. Elphaba sighed, but didn't remove anything else.

"So what now?" Glinda asked.

"If we're in Quadling," Elphaba sighed. "We should head north-west. Once we're at Kiamo Ko," She turned to Glinda. "You can go east back to the Emerald City, or back north to wherever you live."

"But you can't go to Kiamo Ko, Elphie." Glinda said. "You're still a villain to the people of Oz."

"We'll leave once we get there," Fiyero answered. "That was our plan, originally."

There was a moment of tense silence among the group. Both Elphaba and Fiyero knew that Glinda could not know where they would go, she would try to help them. They could not let her do that, because the people of Oz were not ready to accept someone with green skin. They had been indoctrinated by the Wizard and Madam Morrible for too long, and they still feared her. If word got out that they were back in Oz, it would mean the end for Elphaba and Fiyero, and even Glinda if they discovered that she was close to her.

It just dawned upon them what a terrible mistake it had been to be back in Oz.

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><p><strong>(AN: As much as I <em>LOVED<em> LeiaEmberblaze's _The Good Witch of the South_, for the purposes of this story, Elphaba has never been to Quadling, nor have the others. That makes the story a bit of an adventure for the characters. Don't worry, there'll be plenty of surprises and twists later on in the tale.)**


	2. Last of the Giants

**(AN: Original title was 'Not Exactly Home', but decided to change that.)**

**(I don't own LotR. That's just a reference to "Another Journey", in case you haven't read that: you should, I love it and you might too)  
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><p><strong>Last of the Giants<strong>

Three days had passed since the Ozians dropped in the middle of Quadling. They found themselves in a rather solid area of ground, where there were few bogs. Though they had never been here in their entire lives, they knew that the land of the Quadlings was mostly marsh-land, and were surprised to find themselves on solid ground for the majority of their journey. Mountains rose before them, covered in green trees. These were unlike the mountains in the Vinkus, which were bare of all trees. The Ozians thought that these weren't "true" mountains, just smaller hills.

The nights were damp and very cold, and they put the rest of their clothes on to keep warmth. They lit no fires because they dared not make anything that could alert any unfriendly eyes. Granted, this was Quadling and greatly detached from the rest of greater Oz. But that did not exclude the possibility of Gilikinese ruby prospectors winging an alert to whoever was ruling the Emerald City in Glinda's absence. They could not afford to take any chances.

About a few hours from mid-day of the fourth day, the Ozians were halted in the shadow of the mountains before them. Nessa grazed off the grass, while the three Ozians were resting. Fiyero sat cross-legged, with Elphaba leaning on his shoulder. Glinda lay on her stomach, kicking her shoe-less legs idly: the white boots of the Elves deposited nearby.

"We can't wait here for too long," Elphaba said. "We'll be at least half-way up those hills by night-time, if there's a safe path up the mountains."

"We don't even know if there's a way up there." Fiyero stated. "I mean, we've never been this far south before. We know nothing about this place."

"What about the Road?" Glinda asked.

Fiyero and Elphaba turned to the little blond.

"Huh?" they both asked.

"I thought the Yellow Brick Road went as far south as the northern marshes of Quadling." the wee blond Gilikin girl stated. "We should have run into it by now."

"Oz isn't exactly a small place, Glinda," Elphaba returned. "The Road might end at a different place in Quadling. We could be miles away."

"We've been following the setting sun," Fiyero said. "We should be going in a general north-west direction."

"Once we clear these mountains," Elphaba said. "We'll have a clear view of the lights of the Emerald City. We'll know which way we're going."

"Why do we have to go into the mountains?" Glinda asked.

"Why not?" Fiyero asked.

"Well," she said, a little sheepishly. "It's just that, well, there are these rumors of wild Hammerheads in the mountains of Quadling."

"Hammerheads?" Fiyero asked.

"You remember, Elphie." Glinda turned to the green girl. "Those thingies with the big heads we saw in the Wizomania."

"Wizo-what?" Fiyero looked a little weirded out by what Glinda was talking about.

"It's said they eat people alive." Glinda said. "And they hit people with their heads on their long necks."

"I think that's just propaganda," Elphaba returned. "Just an excuse for the Wizard to take them out of their natural habitat and enslave them for public amusement."

"First Animals, now Hammerheads?"

"No people should be forced out of their homes just for some other people who think they're more important." Elphaba nigh snapped.

An eerie silence followed. Not even the chirping of the marsh-creatures could be heard. Nessa neighed from where she was grazing, completely oblivious to what was going on with her human companions.

"I say we go climb those hills," Elphaba said at last. "None of us have been to Quadling before and we need to get our bearings first and foremost."

"I agree." Fiyero said. "But I think we should split up. I'll go up into the hills and you two stay with Nessa until I get back."

"Wait, what? No!"

"Fae, please..."

"I won't let you risk your life up there! You could fall!"

"And what about you in your condition?"

"What condition?" Glinda asked curiously.

"I'm pregnant, Glinda." Elphaba replied.

The blond threw her hands over her mouth to stifle a squeal of delight.

"Sweet Oz, is it for realsies?"

"Of course," Elphaba asked, looking at Glinda strangely. "You were told about it, you know."

"I was?" Glinda squealed.

"Yeah," she said. "Back in Minas Tirith it was..." She looked at Fiyero, who started making calculations on his fingers. Elphaba's eyes then lit up, as they often did when she found the right answer after a little bit of thinking. "Three months ago, I think. Oz, has it been that long?"

"You don't remember?" Fiyero asked, suddenly getting why Elphaba was looking at her friend so suspiciously.

"Well," Glinda returned. "It's been a long time, and a lot's happened since then. It must have slipped my mind, but..." She paused, before exploding into the biggest smile and squeezing Elphaba's shoulders in a very warm hug, biting her lower lip to keep from squealing in joy and throwing both of them into the grass.

"Okay, Glinda, take it easy there." Elphaba smiled.

"I can't, Elphie!" Glinda squealed, pulling herself back up. "It's just so amazifying! Oh, Elphie, can I be the god-mother? Please, please, pleasies!"

"You sound like the little girl from Shiz, Glinda." Elphaba said.

"I can't help it!" The little blond threw her white arms around Elphaba's shoulders.

They did not get anywhere for the next hour. Glinda was too busy regaling Elphaba with every minute detail. But they weren't even pertinent ones, just her ideas for names for the baby, and if it were a girl if Elphaba would allow her to give her make-overs and such. Elphaba just rolled her eyes and tried to endure the heat, while up above them the sun continued on its way across the sky.

"And what if it's twins, Elphie?" Glinda continued. "What will you name them? Oh, it's all so..." Glinda tried to think of a good word to describe how it felt, but something happened.

The sound of growling, and laughter echoed from the hills above them. Glinda gasped, casting fearful eyes above them, while Fiyero walked over to Nessa.

"What good will fighting do?" Elphaba asked. "We're unarmed."

"What about this?" Fiyero asked, pulling a large, musty tome out from the saddle-pack.

"The Grimmerie!" Elphaba exclaimed. She got up to her feet and ran back to Fiyero and Nessa, taking the Grimmerie out. Immediately she knelt down, placed the book in front of her...and stopped.

"Come on!" Fiyero urged. "We've got to try something!"

The sound of loose stones falling could be heard above them, followed by grunts, howls, laughter and roars as well. The trees upon the mountains kept them out of sight, and increased anxiety among the Ozians. Nessa started to pace nervously.

"What are you waiting for?"

"I can't do it!" Elphaba cried.

"What do you mean?"

"I was never any good at it," she excused. "I-I was only lucky. But what if that's not enough? What about the baby? What if magic has some kind of disastrous affect..."

"Fine time to mention your hang-ups, Fae."

Elphaba hit Fiyero's leg with the Grimmerie, which made it bend and a cry of slight pain to escape his lips. The book, after all, was heavy, and Elphaba could hit hard.

"This is serious!" she shouted.

"You didn't have to hit me like that!" Fiyero commented.

"Uh, guys?" Glinda asked.

"You know, you could at least try to be a bit more considerate of what I'm going through, Fiyero Tiggular!" Elphaba shouted, rising to her feet.

"Alright, I'm sorry I said that!"

"You don't have any idea what it's like, do you?" Elphaba asked, tears now crawling down her face. "Of course you don't, you're a man."

"Guys?"

"Please, Fae..."

"Don't 'Please Fae' me! I'm still angry at you!"

"Please, I want to help!"

"Then be useful for a change!"

"Will you two shut up?"

Two pairs of eyes turned towards the little blond, who was now standing on her feet and angrily turned in their direction.

"We're about to be attacked and you two are arguing?" Glinda cried. "Get a grip, for Oz's sake!"

It was the first time in their lives together that Elphaba had been more hysterical than Glinda.

But they had no more time to 'get a grip.' Above them, coming down the slopes of the hill, came the source of all the noise. Three large Hammerheads, grinning stupidly and looking very menacing behind their slack-jawed smiling faces, were now running, or waddling very fast, down the side of the mountain to meet them.

Suddenly, a large figure in green ran out from the trees, a sword in hand, and stood between the three Ozians and the charging Hammerheads. They continued charging but the giant swordsman brought his weapon up, ready for them. The first of the Hammerheads stopped, then shot out his long neck toward the swordsman. But if the creature thought that this new-comer was foolish, it was sorely mistaken. The giant swordsman stepped aside and brought his sword down upon the out-stretched neck. A still smiling Hammerhead's head fell to the ground, the body following it after swaying about for a few moments.

The other two ran for their lives, not ready to fight someone ready and able to fight back.

The Ozians marveled at the giant, who was at least ten feet tall. He wore robes of green, the color of Oz, gilded with gold thread. A pair of heavy black boots were upon his feet, black gloves upon his hands, and the sword was at least as long as they were tall. He had a head of long, brown hair that fell down to the middle of his back in a tied braid, and a great beard was upon his face.

"Uh," Fiyero began. "Thank you, whoever you are, for saving us."

"You should be grateful," the giant said, in a deep, booming voice. "You have just been saved by the High Chancellor of Shiz, servant of the Ozma."

"Wait," Glinda suddenly interjected. "The Ozma has returned?"

"'Returned?'" the giant repeated. "She's never left us. Now if you please, I am on urgent business for Her Majesty and must not be delayed."

The giant wiped the blade of his sword on his gloved hands, then returned it to its sheath. Taking a look here and there, he went off at a running pace, making heavy foot-falls as he ran through the marshy woods.

Glinda was the first one to speak.

"Was that a giant?" she asked. "I only heard rumors about them! I thought they were supposed to have been all gone from Oz."

"Chancellor of Shiz?" Fiyero asked.

"Ozma's returned?" Glinda queried again.

Elphaba was musing silently upon this. She knew the stories, and didn't believe in any of them. She thought that any 'messiah' figures were just charlatans, so she knew that the new Ozma would find her a threat at best and an enemy at worst. But it was the presence of this giant that bothered her. Giants were supposed to have been rooted out of Oz long before Pastorius, the Regent who ruled Oz around the time that she, Elphaba, was born, before the beginnings of the rule of the Wizard, was even born.

This was starting to get suspicious.

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><p><strong>(AN: I know this might be feeling a little slow, but I'm coming up with this stuff off the top of my head, and having to rewrite Oz from scratch with the only ideas coming directly from me! Will try to get a new chapter up a.s.a.p.)<strong>

**(Btw, Pastorius is the 'king' of Oz who ruled after the last Ozma died and her heir was too young. He was later killed off by the Wizard in order to facilitate his rise to power. See L. Frank Baum's _The Marvelous Land of Oz_ and my _The Great War of Oz_ for information about that. I know that this is musical-verse, but I pull from the book version[s] to help flesh out the stories)**


	3. Not Exactly Home

**(AN: Here it is, the long-awaited revelation chapter of this story.)**

**(Furthermore, I thought it meet to wonder a few other things that would have gone through Elphaba's mind about being a parent that I don't know if other fan-fics have covered. She definitely prizes freedom and independence, but being a mother would make her horribly dependent for a very long while. I also noticed that I may have been making her a little dependent, which is totally OOC for Elphaba. Here she's kind of 'biting back' at me for it. lol)**

**(It's hard for me to believe it, but as I grow up from being the naive 18-year-old who saw Wicked the Musical for the first time to the 21-year-old I am now, these characters from Wicked grow up with me. As such, they will experience a lot more 'serious' things than usual, since they are being forced to grow up with me as well).**

**(I have references in this story to two others from 'this series', the _Another War_ and _Another Journey_ ffs I made, based off of...well, you know about those. If you don't, go back and read them. You might be missing out on a few pertinent details that are bound to be mentioned in this tale. As such, I do not own _Lord of the Rings_. That is Tolkien's masterpiece. Just referencing stuff that happened before. Enjoy!)  
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><p><strong>Not Exactly Home<strong>

In the end, the Ozians decided to strike out on the west side of the mountains. Their goal was to go to Kiamo Ko first, and then...they did not like thinking about what would happen after that. They decided to leave that 'bridge' to be crossed when the time was needful. No use in prolonging the inevitable.

So they continued on foot for a day, coming to rest that night with the hills on the right hand. They could not leave the Quadling marshes fast enough, it seemed, for they were already starting to reek of swamp. They tried their best to ignore the smells, since there was nothing much they could do about them, but ever so often Glinda would cough as it got too much for her nose, so accustomed to the fragrance of the fresh air of Gilikin.

Early the next morning, they rose up and began the next leg of their trek. Fiyero placed Elphaba and Glinda on Nessa's back, while he walked. They continued on, hoping beyond hope that the marshes would finally come to an end and they would see Oz.

Another day ended, and the land around them began to change. The marshes became dry fens, and the turf became scruffy grass, with more sand and dirt than mud. The trees vanished from the mountains to their right, while barren hills to their left cornered them into a kind of path that led only forward for many more marches.

By the end of the third day, the marshes were gone far behind them. Only arid vales stretched before them. The line of hills to their left faded off into an everlasting field of savannah grass-lands, while the hills on the right continued. This they continued, until they saw at some great distance an end to the hills on the right-end. The hills continued on for many long miles northward, but the gap seemed to be their best hope of ever leaving this arid land behind them and seeing something a little more familiar.

A fourth day dawned, with sign of hope. As they finally got themselves around the right-end of the hills towards its end, they saw a large gap in the mountains that faded off into the distance to their right.

Fiyero smiled.

"I know where we're at!" he exclaimed at last.

"Where?" Elphaba asked from atop Nessa.

"This is Kumbrica's Pass." he announced.

"So?" Elphaba asked.

"So," he replied. "If we go right and head through the pass, we should be within a day's march of Kiamo Ko."

"How d'you know this, Yero?" Elphaba asked.

"I grew up in the Vinkus," he answered. "This whole rugged country is like my back-yard." Fiyero noticed that Elphaba was smiling in admiration of Fiyero's revelation. He was smiling too: it felt good to be needed.

"Just think," Fiyero stated. "Before noon tomorrow, we'll be at the end of the pass and can see the lights of the Emerald City. If we're lucky, we might even get to see the Yellow Brick Road from here."

With hope in their hearts, the Ozians soldiered on for what was left of the day, and even into the night until they could go no further for exhaustion. So they rested that night within Kumbrica's Pass and rose up early in the morning. They marched on, putting forth all their effort to clear the mountains.

Fiyero chuckled as he looked at each end of the hills. Several scandalacious rumors abounded about what this mountain looked like to those who saw it from afar: some saw it as the shape of a woman lying upon her back with her legs lying open. Fiyero liked this rumor and often propagated it, but now that he seemed older and at least a bit wiser, he felt like such a little, foolish child for bringing it up.

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><p>It was the last night before they cleared Kumbrica's Pass. Tomorrow they would be able to see all of Oz laid out before them. Tonight there was a very tense air in the camp. Earlier that day, Elphaba fell into a dreadful case of what Fiyero called 'the sulks'. She kept to herself, very quietly, and would not speak to Fiyero or accept any of his help. Glinda, troubled over her friend, attended her almost by the moment. When they made their 'camp', Fiyero was left with the horse Nessa.<p>

While moving his hand across the horse's luxurious black body, he wondered about the real Nessarose. He hadn't really seen much of her, except maybe in a passing glance at the OzDust ballroom. A pretty little thing, dressed in pink with a pleasant, oval face, rosy cheeks and long dark brown hair. She was in a wheel-chair, though, and attended by that annoying Munchkin named Boq. He didn't see much of her after Elphaba and Glinda left for the Emerald City, and once the hunt for 'the Witch' began, he was so busy with trying to find her that he never bothered much of anything else.

"A pity," he mumbled to the horse. "I wonder what she was like."

Nessa neighed at him.

He turned his head instead to the small, black and green figure of Elphaba, huddled by herself on the other side of the camp-fire. She was still sulking, and therefore he did not intrude upon her.

Glinda, meanwhile, needed to see why Elphaba had suddenly become so separative. She crawled over from where she slept by their fire and walked over to Elphaba. To Glinda's complete surprise, she saw that her friend was doing something she had almost never seen her ever do before.

"Elphie," she said. "Are you crying?"

"No." the green woman lied.

"Please don't cry, Elphie." Glinda's little hand reached up and tried to wipe a fat, salty tear off her friend's emerald cheek, but the green woman pushed her away.

"It's Elphaba," she said a little harshly. "I'm too old for 'Elphie.'"

"Elphi...Elphaba," Glinda corrected herself. "What's wrong? You know, you've been rather distant and moodified lately. What are you thinking about?"

Elphaba shook her head.

"I'm not leaving until I get some answers, Elphaba Thropp!" Glinda said, setting her eyes sternly against her obstinate friend.

The ghost of a smile cracked across Elphaba's face.

"I didn't know you were so aggressive, Glinda."

"I guess I've become that way." Glinda sighed. "Now what's troubling you?"

"I don't know, Glinda. I just don't feel like myself anymore."

"Of course you're you, Elphaba. You're just as I remembered you."

"No, I'm different! Can't you see?" She looked down at her stomach, which still was not showing much sign of her condition. "I'm weak because of this damn pregnancy."

"Well, didn't you want it?" Glinda inquired.

"At the time, yes." Elphaba sighed. "We were drunk that night at Edoras, and..."

"And what?"

"Before the siege, we were talking, Fiyero and I." Elphaba said. "We wanted to stay there, start a new life. That was the first step of our new life. Though it was motivated by drink, we both consented to it."

"Then what's the problem?"

"I'm losing myself, Glinda!" The blond saw that her friend was tearing up again. "What's going to happen to me once I start showing? I'm going to be a hassle, unable to run, unable to fight. Then once the baby is born, if I survive it that is..."

Glinda knew that this was a sore subject. That night in their bed-room she had heard how Elphaba's mother had died giving birth to Nessarose with deformed feet, and she could tell that it was very hard for her to talk about it. Now she was being forced to face it, with the proposition that she herself might die in childbirth as well.

"You haven't been chewing milk flowers, have you?" Glinda asked.

"Just shut up, Glinda!" Elphaba snapped. "It's not like that! Because if I survive the delivery, I'm suddenly unable to do anything. I'll have to become a mother. I can't be a mother, I...I never really knew much of my mother. I was only three years old when she died, and didn't remember all that much. Can you imagine me with a baby at my breast, on the run with Fiyero? I'll be grounded forever, imprisoned and dependent!" She was now sobbing aloud.

Glinda did not know how to answer her. She knew that Elphaba prized her personal liberty and independence greatly: it was her whole reason for 'flying off the handle' that day in the attic of the Emerald Palace. She was 'the strong one' as the Wizard would say, strong enough to endure being Public Enemy number one for so long, without friends or family to call upon or offer her refuge.

She, on the other hand, was not that way. She liked acting like a slavish little girl, clinging on to the skirts and belt-loops of those stronger and smarter than her. But that was also Galinda, the old self. The new self, the grown-up, mature Glinda, had the desire to possess the strength and independence of her friend Elphaba.

But childhood had never really occurred to either of them. They were still very young, mid-twenties, and the thought of settling down and having children like 'regular folks' was entirely far-fetched in their minds. Glinda, at least, knew that being a mother made you fat, and that was something she did not wish to happen upon her. In all jesting, Elphaba was so thin that a little bit of 'baby fat' would actually make her look a little healthier in Glinda's eyes.

No, there should be no jesting. It was not a jesting matter for Elphaba, for she had to endure this. Glinda wrapped her little pale arms around her friend's neck, pulling them into an embrace. It was so shocking to see 'the strong one' so weak. Everything that she said had merit: she would start showing in the next three months, and it would be impossible for them to do any serious running or battle in her condition. And what about her needs? Surely a pregnant mother needed to eat for both herself and her child, but they ate precious little: they had no idea what was edible here in Quadling. Very soon, Glinda realized, Elphaba would become a very real liability to their group.

But she didn't say a word. She remembered their time in the East Emnet, when she herself had been a liability that was causing the group to lag behind on the trail. Elphaba and Fiyero never grudged carrying her, so why should she grudge if Elphaba's condition made life a little bit more difficult for them?

"We'll get through this, Elphie." Glinda said, slipping back to her green friend's pet-name. "One step at a time." She now felt in control, and empowered such as only once happened: when only she and Fiyero were left and Fiyero was wounded. With a tear brimming in her own eye, she kissed Elphaba's head of jet black hair. The smell of bluesap oil eminated from Elphaba's hair.

* * *

><p>The morning dawned clear and bright, the sun rising up above the Madeleines in the far east. At last they had cleared Kumbrica's Pass. Finding a small, grassy knoll, the Ozians led Nessa up atop the knoll and looked out at the land sprawled out before them under the sunrise.<p>

The plains known as the Disappointments stretched out before them, with the Oakhair Forest beyond that. To the northeast there sat the befouled Kellswater Lake. Between them and the Disappointments wound the Vinkus River, which led northwest all the way to the foothills beneath Kiamo Ko. To the east, the arrow-head shape of the eastern end of the Restwater Lake could be seen, along with the Pine Barrens beyond.

To their surprise, they saw that there was nothing between Restwater and the forest: the line of trees went all the way to the water's edge.

"Something's not right here," Fiyero said.

"What's wrong?" Glinda asked.

"I can't see the Road." he returned.

"Really?" Elphaba asked. "Well keep looking, its bound to be here somewhere."

"We weren't gone for that long, were we?" asked Glinda.

Just then, they saw every fiber in Fiyero's body tense up as he cast his eyes northeastward, on the other side of the Oakhair Forest. The two Ozians looked also, eager to see what had caused him to suddenly tense up.

As far as the eye could see, beyond the Oakhair Forest and the tiny gray line that was the Gilikin River, there stretched oceans of green grass all the way into the north, where they faded from view. This was the most disheartening news of all, for they should be able to at least see the lights of the Emerald City from there. The sun was high, the day was clear, they should be able to see it, for even in the day it glowed in all of its green brightness.

"What happened to the City?" Glinda gasped.

Neither Fiyero nor Elphaba had anything to say. It was too shocking to believe. They were back in Oz, that looked true enough, for there were landmarks that they knew to belong only in Oz. But they had come at a time before the Emerald City and the Yellow Brick Road had been built.

A time long before the coming of the Wizard.

* * *

><p><strong>(AN: Yes, they're in ancient Oz!)<strong>

**(The physical depiction of Oz comes from the map from Wicked the Book. Culturally and aesthetically, I'm on my own with this 'old Oz.' Since Oz was in a sort of 'gilded age' during the time setting of _Wicked_ and _The Wonderful Wizard of Oz_, I am thinking about taking it back to a 'medieval' Oz, during the reign of the Ozmas when there was much more magic about [and there were giants in those days. lol]. The Oz-series don't have much in regards to ancient Ozian history, nor is there much in _Wicked_ either, so I'm on my own.)**

**(Any ideas or questions, people? Please, you know where to put them...in the review section, not up your anus. lol)**


	4. Coming of the Rak

**(AN: I'm in uncharted territory, since there are almost no records about Ozian past history, other than the whole 'Lurline enchanted the world into existence and made Ozma her heir', and, of course, the most known 'Pastorius ruled over Oz while Ozma Tippetarius was still not of age, but then the Wizard came, off'd him, spirited her away and took over Oz.' Aside from that, not much else. So I'm kind of making this up as I go along, this ancient Oz, but I have a definite pattern to this madness.)**

**(Firstly, I direct your attention to _The Great War of Oz_. As flawed as it is, there is some hints to the time-frame of events in this story. Since the events of _The Wizard of Oz_ and Act 2 of _Wicked_ take place at the same time, they take place in 1900 [our world's time], since _The Wonderful Wizard of Oz_, the source material of both the movie and _Wicked_, was published in 1900, we can assume that is the 'starting' date. However, _The Great War of Oz_ happens in the 21st century [our current time], a hundred years after the events of _Wicked _and _The Wizard of Oz_. Therefore, counting backwards, a thousand years from 2011 would put this story around 1011 AD our world's time.)**

**(So this Oz is based somewhat on the Medieval Age of our world, since the Oz that you know is based on the Gilded Age of our world. [lol] This also predates the construction of 'Ozma Town', and therefore the capital of Oz is dear 'not-quite-so-old' Shiz.)**

* * *

><p><strong>Coming of the Rak<strong>

The Ozians saw Oz stretched out before them as far as they could see, but it was not the Oz that they knew. The Emerald City was gone, as was any evidence of the Yellow Brick Road. There was no sign of sudden destruction, so it could not have happened by some war or catastrophe. They were all agape at the sight of this.

Suddenly, they heard a cry from down below. Looking, they saw, in the distance, a small black dot gliding across the plains in front of them, heading towards the Pass. They were riding fast, very fast, in fact, but this made no sense. There were no horses in Oz, how could they be moving at them so quickly?

A few moments later, they saw just why they were moving so fast. A band of soldiers, all of them in purple livery with a golden O-within-the-Z symbol upon their wrists, were riding towards them on creatures that looked like horses, yet each of them had a single horn set between the eyes. Yes, these soldiers were riding unicorns: not the fanciful, sparkling kind that Glinda had always imagined them as when she was a little girl, but horses, as real and down-to-earth as Nessa, just with a horn.

The company of riders quickly surrounded them on all sides. Their leader, a tall one with a crest of red atop his helmet, rode up on a brown unicorn with a black mane and horn.

"Halt, in the name of Her Divine Majesty the Ozma!" the captain announced.

The soldiers drew their swords, ready to attack in case the need arose. Elphaba and Fiyero eyed them and saw that they were not armed with muskets or any of the weapons they knew: just swords and lances.

"Announce yourself!" the captain said.

"Glinda!" cried the blond girl. Elphaba gave her a furtive glare.

"You!" the captain said, turning to the green-skinned woman. He obviously saw her glance. "Monster! What are you? Where do you hail from?"

"I'm from the West!" she said.

The captain laughed at this. "Nothing lives in the wild land of the Winkies!"

"Excuse me!" Fiyero said. "But I'm from the Vinkus, if you please."

The captain turned to Fiyero, looked him over, and then turned to the other soldiers. "Look at this, boys! A Winkie who can talk!"

"I don't know if you've heard," Fiyero said, placing his feet apart and looking ready for battle. "But we don't take kindly to being called 'Winkie', you know."

"Silence, savage!" the captain shouted. One of the soldiers struck Fiyero with the butt-end of his lance, knocking him down to the ground. Elphaba rushed to his side, at which the other soldiers laughed again.

"It appears the little frog has a soft spot for the wild man," the captain said mockingly. He then drew his sword and pointed at Elphaba. "As Captain of the Oakhair Division of the Royal Army of Oz, I seize you and your pet in Her Majesty's name." He then turned to Glinda.

"You!" he said, pointing at her with his sword. "You're from Gilikin, aren't you?"

Glinda nodded her head, a little fearfully.

"And what is that thing?" he pointed at Nessa. "Some kind of unicorn with no horn? What do they call it, a nulicorn?" The soldiers laughed at the captain's jest.

"Please!" Glinda said. "We're strangers here, and we don't mean any trouble."

"Do you, now?"

"Yes!" Glinda returned. She was now trying her best to remember how to behave herself, how to act like a public figure. It was much easier to hide behind stronger people like Fiyero, Elphaba or even Madam Morrible. Now the pressure was on her and she had to try to sound imposing and serious.

"And, furthermore," she continued. "As a citizen of Gilikin, I request an appearance before the Ozma."

"An appearance before Her Majesty?"

"Did I stutter?" Glinda returned.

"Insolent strumpet!" one of the soldiers shouted, and readied to strike her with his lance.

"Hold!" the captain announced, waving the errant soldier back with his hand. He then turned back to Glinda. "Why should you speak to Her Divine Majesty?"

"Because I'm a citizen of Gilikin," she returned. "One of the Arduenna clan of the Upper Uplands!"

Some scattered whispers came from the guards.

"Perhaps the question should be," the captain returned. "Why do you wish to speak to Her Majesty?"

"To vouch for my friends," she indicated to the others. "We're loyal subjects and mean no harm. Surely once Ozma hears this, she'll believe us and let us go about our business."

"And what business is this?"

"We're returning to our homes," Glinda said. "Please, let us speak to her."

The captain mused on this for a short time, while the other riders paced restlessly about, anxious to do something or at least kill these strangers and be back at their post.

At last, he nodded.

"Rythnar!" he called to one of the other riders.

"Captain!" Rythnar announced.

"Find a spare horse for the Lady Glinda," he said. "She and her...'friends'...are going to Shiz."

* * *

><p>The ride from Kumbrica's Pass to the ford at the southernmost end of the Vinkus River was over in about an hour. These unicorns were fast, almost as fast as Elphaba's broomstick. So fast were they that Elphaba and Fiyero, riding on Nessa, were hard-pressed to keep up. They forded without incident and then headed north. From what they could discern by what the captain let slip to the other soldiers, they would pass the Disappointments altogether by riding along the western border of the Kellswater Lake.<p>

Glinda recalled what little Dorothy had told her about their walk across Oz, how long it took and what kind of dangers they encountered. Sure, a broken bridge - probably the work of Animals in protest of the Wizard's Yellow Brick Road - wild Kalidahs, a river, some angry Trees and a poppy field were not as dangerous as some of the things she and Elphaba had been through, but she also recalled that Dorothy said it took three days or so for them to make the journey, on foot, from Center Munch to the Emerald City. Though she had no skill with maps, she guessed that they were making good time with this little journey of theirs, since it took them an hour from Kumbrica's Pass to the ford, three from the ford to the Kells-River gap, the place between the Kellswater and the Gilikin River, and another two to the Shale Shallows.

When they rode, they found a modest fort resting amid the Shallows, still very staunch but starting to look forlorn. Glinda had heard of St. Glinda, her namesake in some ways, and wondered where the Cloister of St. Glinda was. Unless her geography was totally wrong, this castle was where it stood. A crazy thought came into her head, one that had only been there when they could not make out the Emerald City from Kumbrica's Pass.

What if they were, somehow, in the ancient past of Oz? The Ozma was here, and there was no evidence of the Wizard - the City or the Road - and it would give a reason why Elphaba gave her such a furtive glare when she told the captain her name. Elphaba - knowing her, Glinda thought, she's a million steps ahead of me - has already guessed that and so refuses to reveal her name since it might cause a confusion or...

Another thought formed in Glinda's mind. If they were in the past, does that mean that they could do things that would affect how Oz happened in the future? It gave Glinda headaches just thinking about what could happen if they did something that would forever change Oz. It would be their faults and they would never be able to rectify that fault.

They stayed at the Shale Shallows fort for a few days, letting the unicorns - and Nessa - rest up from the journey ahead of them. Elphaba, in keeping with her moodiness, stayed in her room almost all of the time, and Fiyero alternated between trying in vain to comfort her, getting pushed around by the prejudiced Gilikinese soldiers, or trying to sneak past them to check up on Glinda and Nessa. Glinda, on the other hand, walked the battlements of this fort and tried to take in as much of the land around her as she could.

Wide, open plains stretched on to the west, steadily turning golden brown until they were swallowed up by the high, black mountains of the Great Kells. Those mountains, Glinda knew all too well, nestled the castle of Kiamo Ko, where it had all ended. She did not even know if there was a Kiamo Ko this long ago. All the horrible memories - however invalid they were made by Elphaba being alive - still stung too much for her to keep her gaze directed westward for too long. To the south was the way they had come. To the east there was the Restwater Lake on the one side, the southernmost wing of the Madeleines on the other, and the Pine Barrens situated almost directly in the middle thereof. They seemed to serve as a barrier between this 'middle land' and Munchkinland: the blue line that was the Munchkin River vanished into the shadows of the Pine Barrens.

To the north, back home, she saw endless plains and rolling hills. In her time, the Emerald City could be easily seen from this far south. Now there was only a wide, empty plain of rolling hills - oceans of grass as green as her best friend's skin. Farther north, she saw the land slowly slope higher, turning a steppe-brown until fading into far away peaks of white. Glinda knew that snow existed in her time - maybe on the highest points in Oz like the Glikkus Scalps or the famed Mount Runcible, but she had never seen snow that far south. The Uplands must be swimming in snow, she wondered.

After three days here at the fort of the Shale Shallows, the captain of the guard - a Gilikinese man named Flin Tenmeadows - entered their room. With him was the soldier Rythnar, who had bundles of heavy coats, cloaks and scarves in his arms.

"We leave at once," Captain Tenmeadows announced. "Better throw these on if I were you: it's very cold in Gilikin."

Glinda protested, but the serious look that Captain Tenmeadows gave her meant that he was not kidding.

* * *

><p>If she had refused his offer, Glinda knew now that she would have regretted it immediately. Oz was never this cold in her memory, but once they left the fort of the Shale Shallows and had passed what would be the northern border of the Emerald City, the weather suddenly and drastically changed. The air was dry and cold, and the think grass faded to short, brown-ish steppe turf.<p>

Even as fast as the unicorns were galloping, Captain Tenmeadows told them that it would be five days in the very least before they would arrive at Shiz: if they did not encounter any adversity along the way. He said something about wild creatures roaming the land that might attack them if they were not careful. Glinda was a little perturbed at this, but didn't give it much thought. The hope that this large army of soldiers would keep them safe from anyone filled her with some confidence, though not overly.

They were three days out of the fort of the Shale Shallows. The steppe-plains gave way to fields upon fields of white snow. Glinda, bundled in a heavy fur coat with a scarf wrapped around her face., was thankful that she had taken Captain Tenmeadows' advice and worn heavy clothing. From the report of her face and her now bright red nose, she would be nothing short of shivering to death from the great cold winds that lashed at them. At the far rear of the company, Elphaba and Fiyero were heavily clothed, though Nessa was not made for galloping through such conditions. Even Midgard had not been as cold as this Oz.

A sudden halt brought the company to a halt.

"Cherrystone!" Captain Tenmeadows called out. "Go and scout the drifts ahead of us!"

"Sir!" the rider shouted. Glinda saw that this was the one who had almost struck her for her 'insolence.' He rode off into the cold haze loomed directly in front of them.

Glinda turned her unicorn back around and saw Fiyero and Elphaba getting off Nessa's back. The poor horse was kneeling in the snow, looking thoroughly winded. Glinda jumped down and plopped her booted feet into the deep, cold snow. Carefully, she walked forward, one awkward step in front of another, and stood with her friends again.

"She's exhausted," Elphaba said. "We have to tell them to slacken up."

"Like they're gonna listen to anything we say." Fiyero returned.

"Are you two alright?" she asked. "Well, you four, I should say."

"Shh!" Elphaba said, throwing her emerald hand over Glinda's mouth. The muffled sound of Glinda protesting came from within, but Elphaba didn't relinquish her grip.

"We're already in trouble as it is," she whispered. "You gave away your name and where you're from. Once they find out that you don't exist, we'll be in trouble."

Glinda pulled her friend's hand off her mouth.

"What do you mean?"

"Haven't you guessed?" Elphaba asked. "We're in Oz's ancient history. None of us exist, not even the Wizard or Madam Morrible. We can't be using our real names."

"So what brilliant idea do you have, then?" Glinda inquired.

"I don't know." she returned.

"We could just make it up as we go along..." Fiyero began.

Elphaba held one green finger up to her dark-colored lips, silencing both of them. Three pairs of frozen ears listened to the gentle howling of the cold, northern wind. Slowly, they became aware of another sound, aside from the stirring of the wind, their own misty breaths forming about their lips and the noise of horses, unicorns and the restless Oakhair Division.

Boom.

The sound came from the north. Slowly another one followed, and then more in rapid succession. Boom, boom, boom, the noise sounded, like thunder and drums pounding out against each other. The unicorns gave neighs of fear and backed away from the northern direction.

Just then, the soldier Cherrystone came running back in fright.

"Mammoths!" he shouted. "Dozens of them! Run for your lives!"

The soldiers began mounting their unicorns and scattering in every which direction. Elphaba, Fiyero and Glinda did not need to wait for long before they saw what it was that was coming their way.

A large figure, followed by others, emerged from the mist. It was very huge, covered in dark brown hair with two great yellow-white tusks emerging from its face. It looked like an Elephant, yet was much larger and covered in hair. Many of them were charging towards them, roaring with their trumpet-voiced trunks and pounding with their huge feet.

The two immediately threw themselves back onto Nessa's back. The horse, seeing that a large horde of frightening creatures was coming upon them, took off despite being worn out. Glinda jumped back onto the back of the unicorn and tried to follow after Elphaba and Fiyero, both of whom were riding to where the other soldiers hid. But the unicorn was bucking wildly and neighing in fear as the Mammoths continued charging, unrelenting, towards her.

"Glinda!" Elphaba called out. The little blond turned her head to the green figure atop the black horse. Suddenly, a sea of dark red mammoth hair passed between them.

"_**NO!**_" Elphaba cried out, one green hand reaching in vain out towards the mammoths, as if to save the poor little blond from certain death. She yanked on Nessa's mane rather violently, trying to pull her around. Fiyero immediately guessed what she was about to do.

"Fae, please! Stop!"

"I have to save her! I have to do something!" she wailed.

"We can't do any..."

But she was too far gone. Nessa rose up on her hind-legs, sending Fiyero tumbling back into the snow. Fortunately, the other soldiers saw her charge out. Three of them jumped onto their unicorns and rode out to bring her back.

A great fog, darker and thicker than the one created by the falling snow, descended upon them. The mammoth creatures were running for their lives, braying louder and more violently than before. Fiyero watched with horror as his beloved vanished into the darkness, into who knows what else that could be in there, waiting for them.

The noise of a great roar was heard. A unicorn brayed and someone cried out in abject terror.

Fiyero ran head-long into the smoke, heedless if he were to get trampled by a mammoth or whatever else was in here. He dove into the cloud, disappearing from view. Inside, there was a fierce smell that burned his nose and made him want to sneeze violently. As before, when carrying Glinda across the East Emnet, he wished he were still a scarecrow. He didn't need to sneeze when made of straw.

The roar resounded again. Fiyero looked up and suddenly became very thankful that he was still human.

A great shape loomed above. It was unlike anything they had ever seen before: its sheer size even rivaled that of Fafnir. Great wings it had, and four huge, clawed feet, and a tail that struck the ground somewhere in the darkness. The great smoke that made Fiyero want to sneeze was emanating from the monster's nose, and it belched fire like a dragon.

Correction, this thing was a dragon.

"Elphaba!" he shouted out into the thick smoke, hoping in vain that this was a dragon only.

There were loud noises echoing from within the smoke again, the roar of this mighty dragon followed by the panicked braying of an unlucky mammoth. Its cries eventually died down, and Fiyero feared the worst.

Just then, a hand reached up and pulled Fiyero down into the snow. He turned around to see who it was, and saw the snow-covered green face of his beloved staring back at him.

If what I've heard about snow is true, Fiyero thought, then its a good thing she's not allergic to water.

Elphaba slid herself around Fiyero, pulling herself up into a kneeling position and taking out something heavy that was within her hands. It was the Grimmerie.

"Where's Glinda?" he asked. "Where's Nessa?"

Just then, the sound of giant foot-steps faded away. The heat became much more intense.

"I smell great power," a deep, thunderous voice growled.

"I think he means you, Fae." Fiyero whispered. Elphaba just rolled her eyes and turned her attention to the violet pages of the Grimmerie. "Hurry!" he added.

The dragon's shape appeared from out of the mist. It was very huge, about the size of a hundred men, and clothed in a strange kind of armor resembling stone. A great light burned in its mouth.

"Get down!" Elphaba shouted out.

A sudden gust of snow and cold wind began to gather around the small figure of the green woman. It gathered together and then shot off directly towards the oncoming dragon. It broke upon its armored chest.

The dragon suddenly started neighing and roaring loudly, flailing its wings and tail about as if trying to free itself of some great evil. It did not belch any fire either, even though both Elphaba and Fiyero were within breathing range of this great dragon.

The smoke began to dissipate, and by reason of the sudden rushing of wind and the whooping cries of the soldiers, the dragon had departed. Elphaba and Fiyero rose and took a look at their surroundings. The snow was burned black, and there were the remnants of at least two of the great mammoth creatures. The body of a large unicorn lay sprawled upon the ground.

"Glinda!" Elphaba cried, throwing the Grimmerie into the snow, and all caution to the wind, and running over to the body of the unicorn.

"Yes?"

Fiyero turned and saw a whitened shape rise out of the snow. One of the soldiers gave a cry of alarm.

"No wait!" Fiyero said, turning around to them.

There was a whizzing noise and a dart stuck fast into Fiyero's chest.

"Fifi!" Glinda shouted. She rose up out of the drifts, heavily covered in snow, and crawled over to where Fiyero lay. The dart was stuck fast into his body, and a little dark stain was forming around where it punctured.

Blood.

"Glin..." Elphaba trailed off when she saw Fiyero injured. She turned to the soldiers. "You bastards!"

"Why?" asked Captain Tenmeadows. "For killing a Winkie? It's good sport, even if Cherrystone was aiming for her instead."

"Me? But why?" Glinda suddenly became very serious. Fiyero could die, and it might be because of her.

"Well, we didn't expect a giant snow-covered thing rising up out of the drifts." Tenmeadows stated. "Are you hurt, Lady?"

"No, not really."

"Good, then get your pets back onto that...nulicorn of yours." he laughed.

"She's called a horse!" Glinda retorted. "And her name is Nessa."

Tenmeadows turned and looked at the frightened horse, shivering in the cold snow.

"A fair word for one so homely." he said, regarding the horse. "And a scrawny thing it is, too. Never mind, up you go. You'll have to run on behind us for the last few days to Shiz."

"But Fi..my friend, he's..."

"He's only hurt," Tenmeadows said. "He won't die."

"Oh really?" Glinda asked. "Would you like me to stick you with a dart and see if you don't die from it?"

"You could try," Tenmeadows haughtily stated. "Besides, the Ozma rules in Oz. And while she lives, all of Oz lives." He then pointed to the others. "Up, quickly! We've wasted enough time here!"

Elphaba and Glinda gently put Fiyero up atop Nessa's back. Glinda whispered something to Elphaba, who ran back and took the Grimmerie, making sure that nobody saw her as she picked it up. She and Glinda then mounted Nessa and ran on sorrowfully behind the company of unicorns, trying to make it has painless as possible for Fiyero.

* * *

><p><strong>(AN: Horay for trying to make this story more appealing with cliffhangers!)<strong>

**(According to the Oz-series, there were no horses in Oz [and that makes the 'horse of a different color' from _The Wizard of Oz_ anachronistic], and so I decided to have them ride unicorns - down-to-earth unicorns that look almost like regular horses just with horns.)**

**(I think I gave away who the soldiers are/belong to: they're Gilikinese clansmen. Tenmeadows, of course, is an ancestor of dear Avaric, and Cherrystone is a distant ancestor of Commander Cherrystone from _Son of a Witch_. As per the Ozian color scheme - which some many have forgotten unless you've read _Wicked_ the book - they wear purple robes because purple is the color of Gilikin.)**

**(The Rak is an actual dragon-like beast from the Oz-series. It is not the Time Dragon, but a different one. In this age, dragons abound more than they do in 'modern' Oz. And I had mammoths as well, cuz I like mammoths)**

**(The extreme weather in Gilikin is something I also invented. This story is set before the coming of the Three Adepts, and therefore the weather in Oz is very chaotic, and the north-lands are very cold. Lastly, all references to Midgard, the East Emnet and Oz-series characters and situations are belonging to their respective owners, not I.)**

**(I'll try to update sooner, but please, while I delve into the depths of my imagination to create ancient Oz, please feel free to review and suggest ideas.)**


	5. Blessed Ancient Shiz

**(AN: Finally got some more from this story published!)**

**(Since there's no 'official' story behind the history of Oz, I'm going into new waters here. L. Frank Baum never went _too_ far back with Ozian past, since his tales focused on the current adventures of Dorothy and her many friends. Maguire added a little more to the story, but he only listed a short three-hundred-years worth of Ozma's [not in full, just a few]. I'm thinking that Oz was around for a while longer than three hundred years. As such, if I refer to any years, it will be based on _deeplyshallow_'s "Horrible: The Life and Times of Madame Morrible." I liked that story too.)**

**(In regards, though, to that, since she stated that Ozma Tippetarius [the Ozma from the Oz-series] is Ozma XXXIX, I'm not sure where this puts this story or what number the Ozma from this tale will be [yep, letting the cat out of the bag. I'm a sucker for that]. But if you haven't guessed that an Ozma will appear in this story by now, you should re-read. Suffice to say that this is one of the 'older' Ozmas, from ancient Oz [about nine hundred years before _Wicked_].)**

**(Now on with the show!)**

* * *

><p><strong>Blessed Ancient Shiz<strong>

The small party rode through the streets of a town that was both very familiar and yet completely different. In their time, this town was known as a university town, with almost all of the buildings serving the purposes of the college. Here, however, Elphaba Thropp saw no familiar hallowed halls that jogged her memory of her days here. Even the statue, where Fiyero ran into her all those years ago, was nowhere to be seen.

"Where are we?" Glinda asked.

"The Blessed City of Shiz, the crown jewel of Oz!" Tenmeadows announced.

It was still nothing like any of them had remembered it from their days. All the buildings that had once dominated the landscape were gone. A high wall surrounded the town, with many towers and armed battlements upon the walls. The train station, also, where Elphaba and Glinda had departed to the Emerald City, was also gone. They noticed that almost from the beginning as they entered this snow-covered town: the sound of trains were not there anymore.

At last they saw a building that looked familiar. The namesake of the boys dormitory, Ozma Towers, rose before them. The sides of the great structure were not covered in green ivy, or even the violet-leaved snakesap, native to Gilikin. It was very austere, capped in snow, looking like an old dwarf sitting down with a beard in three forks on his face. It looked much less like a dormitory and much more like a modest palace.

And a palace it indeed was.

Tenmeadows and his company marched Elphaba, Glinda and the wounded Fiyero through the gate, in the center-most pillar. They entered a long hallway with many cutaway clefts in the sides. There were no paintings, but beautiful tapestries filled the wall and a great rug was upon the floor, embroidered with some kind of image. Looking carefully, they saw someone sitting upon a hill, dressed as Glinda might have been. From where she sat, a great flood of water was flowing down upon the lands below.

The three turned their attention to the throne before them. Around it were many distinguished and, sometimes, silly-looking gentlemen who were obviously advisers, and ladies-in-waiting. Upon the throne sat something that was perhaps even more disturbing than a mural of Lurline releaving herself. A short woman, extremely fat, sat upon a gold cushioned throne like a great pale frog. She was robed in various bright, shining clothes and bedecked with jewelry. Her hair, a deep shade of dark brown, was tied into two buns on either side of her head, while the main mass of it hung down behind her back. A golden tiara was upon her head, with the O-within-the-Z emblem sat directly upon the middle, above her face.

"Hail, Ozma the Great, ruler of our beloved Oz!" Tenmeadows greeted, bowing before the huge person upon the throne. A hideous, sickeningly-sweet titter escaped that monstrous body, and even Glinda was hard-pressed to stifle a grin. Captain Tenmeadows turn to his 'prisoners' and ordered them to bow. Glinda did, and Fiyero, though wounded, got to one knee.

Elphaba did not bow.

"Captain," Ozma said to the captain. "Why does that ugly green thing refuse to bow? Are not all the people of Oz duty-bound to show respect to their ruler?"

Tenmeadows turned to Elphaba and struck her down to her feet with his hand. Fiyero feebly tried to attack him, but Glinda held him back: a rather easy thing to do for someone who, for the last three days, had been bleeding from the wound of a crossbow.

"That's better!" Ozma sang. Glinda was starting to feel that she did not like this Ozma at all. "Now, give me your names."

"If it pleases, Your Oz-ma-ship-ness-ry..." Glinda stumbled.

"Your Majesty will do." Ozma returned.

"If it pleases, Your Majesty," Glinda said. "I am Glinda o..." She suddenly bit down on her tongue, remembering what they had talked about before the Mammoth stampede.

"Yes?"

"Just Glinda, your Majesty."

"And where are you from, Just Glinda?"

"It's Glinda," she returned. "And I'm from the Arduenna Clan, native to the Upper Uplands of Gilikin."

"Ah!" Ozma's expression changed to something that made Elphaba think of a large, wide-mouthed toad smiling. "In that case, I shall have to send word to your clan that one of their number has been..." She turned to Tenmeadows. "Where exactly did you say you found these strange people?"

"They were at the northern exit of the Southkell Pass."

"You mean Kumbrica's Pass," Glinda added.

"Who?" the Ozma inquired.

Glinda saw Elphaba shake her head at her, then turned back to Ozma.

"Uh, nothing, Your Majesty. Southkell Pass it is, then."

Ozma nodded, then picked up her golden scepter - also topped with the O-within-the-Z symbol of Oz, and pointed at Elphaba.

"And what are you?" she asked. "Some sort of frog grown into human form?"

"No!" Elphaba shot back.

"Silence!" Tenmeadows struck her again. "How dare you speak to your ruler in such a way!"

"Bring her here, Captain Tenmeadows!" Ozma insisted, pointing to the stone floor directly in front of her. Tenmeadows ordered two of his guards to drag Elphaba before the ruler, which they did - and none to gently - and then threw her down at Ozma's huge, bejeweled feet (not only in that she had jeweled slippers, reminding Elphaba disturbingly of Nessarose, but her toes, which stuck out of the shoes, had diamonds and precious stones embedded into the toe-nails).

"Before you speak, ugly little thing," Ozma began, though how she called Elphaba 'ugly' was almost nauseating, with a kind of playful disregard of the green woman's feelings: like only Ozma's wish mattered. "Let me remind you that I can make your stay here very unpleasant if you do not cooperate, okay?" She shot Elphaba a sickening grin and then spoke aloud.

"Now, frog-thing, tell me your name."

"I'm not a Frog," Elphaba returned, trying hard to keep herself from boiling over. "I do have green skin, but I'm just as human as you are."

One of the guards struck Elphaba across the back with his staff.

"How dare you make yourself equal to Her Majesty!" He rose to strike again, but Ozma held out her scepter.

"I still haven't heard your name, silly little green thing!"

Elphaba rose up, trying hard to look at the huge, bloated figure upon Oz's throne without exploding into fits of laughter. She also had to think up of a name, one that would not draw attention to herself, and one that would not reveal herself before her time, as it were.

"Aelphaba, your Majesty." she answered.

"And why, Aelphaba, are you green?"

"I was born that way, your Majesty."

Laughs erupted from those gathered about Ozma's throne.

"Why? Was your father a fairy?" inquired Ozma.

"No!" Elphaba answered. A little too harshly, maybe, but it reminded her of the hard times she had as a child growing up in Rush Margins, where all the other children were as pink as a peach and spared no expense in teasing her, even unto tears, over her green skin. And that thing about fairies had been just one of the many hurtful things they said about her.

Ozma looked down upon this little green thing before her, ignoring her crass behavior as just a rough exterior. She prided herself on being such a good judge of character, she knew that inside, this green woman was just another one of the stupid people of Oz, content with nothing more than a full belly and knowledge that their Ozma was on the throne, keeping them safe.

How wrong she was about this green woman.

"I like you, Aelphaba." Ozma said. "You're...very bright. It is my will that you remain here at court, in my presence wherever I go."

"But your Majesty..."

"I insist!"

"But what about my husband?"

"Husband?"

"Him," she pointed to Fiyero. "Prince Yero of the Vinkus!"

A loud chortle came from a Cat sitting to the left of the throne.

"Savages with princes!" he mocked.

"Oh, yes, Mr. Fuzzims!" Ozma tittered. She then called the Cat over and he jumped onto her lap, where she babied and babbled to it as if it were a little child.

"Please!" Elphaba continued. "He's hurt! The soldiers refused to help him!"

"But of course!" Ozma returned, and Sir Fuzzims jumped off her lap and back to his seat. "I am Ozma, after all. Don't you know anything?"

This was just too much. Elphaba could understand ignorant Ozians making snide comments about her skin, but insulting her intelligence?

"I'll have you know..."

Ozma held up her fat hand, whose fingers looked like five pink sausages covered in rings.

"I am the Anointed of Lurline, dearie!" she bragged, puffing up her chest with pride. "It is written in the _Oziad_ that while Ozma lives, no creature in Oz shall taste death. So even if your...prince...were horribly mangled, he would still be alive in some form or another."

"But he's in pain!"

"Silence!" Ozma shouted. The whole court ceased their noise-making. "Now, Aelphaba, will you join my court or shall I have you thrown into the dungeon?"

Elphaba nodded her head.

"I'll join your court."

"Good!" Ozma clapped her fat hands together, giggling so much that Glinda put her hand over her mouth and made as if she would vomit. "Now, let's get you cleaned up. No sense in wearing those horrendible black clothes of yours, nope nope nope!"

"But what about Yero?"

"Oh, I'll have someone fix his wound, if that makes you happy." She then turned to Glinda. "You..." She waved her hand, as if trying to recall her name from some great storehouse of knowledge, but to no avail. "...uh, you-you-person, will stay here at court until I've received word from the Arduenna clan."

She then waved her hand at them. She was done speaking with them and any further audience would annoy her beyond belief. So the guards took Glinda and Fiyero away and Elphaba was led into private guest chambers by several of the ladies-in-waiting.

It was definitely not the Shiz that they knew.

* * *

><p><strong>(AN: I've based Ozma in this on her portrayal in the Oz-series, obviously. Calling her subjects 'stupid' was something that Ozma Tippetarius did too, and she also kept 'odd' people as friends and 'play-things.' So that's not that far-fetched.)<strong>

**(I hope you can see where I'm going with this _Of Saints and Sinners_ title, and names like Glinda and Aelphaba [pronounced Eel-faba]. One of the really cool things about going back in time is that you can rewrite history...somewhat. Don't worry, I won't have major rewriting going on. Very subtle, and unnoticeable, such that it won't matter much by 'present' day Oz.)**


	6. Staying at Court

**(AN: I've always believed that the best art - whether it be paintings, music or writing - comes straight from the heart or else it is fake. So far, I've been unable to write anything more than a sentence or less when it came to my various ffs. I'm not sorry for this, because I don't know how to cure it and make it enjoyable again. If I did, then I would have an excuse. This is not writer's block, since I can get stuff out - it just feels so artificial since I haven't felt 100% into anything since I last submitted something on here)**

**(I'm not cutting this story short, but I might not update as much until I can fall in love with my art [and with life] again.)**

* * *

><p><strong>Staying at Court<strong>

Elphaba did not see much of Glinda or Fiyero for the next several hours. She was thrust into a guest room - very small - and kept there for a few minutes, or at least an hour. Elphaba could not count the time, for the clock-tower of Shiz - part of Crage Hall - had not been built. Ozians in this time, she assumed, must still read time by the sun. She sat in her room, enjoying what was probably her first visit to Ozma Towers.

While she had some time to herself, a strange desire came over Elphaba to examine herself. The room was rather cold, for the hearth had not been lit and the walls were made of stone. She removed the heavy coat Captain Tenmeadows had given her and then examined her black dress. It was the under-dress that she wore when she and Fiyero first left Oz. She had to get rid of her real clothes so that the Ozians would think she actually had melted. But it was starting to show signs of wear. So far, she recalled wearing it only before Rivendell and once they had left Minas Tirith. Still some time, to be certain.

Her back was still sore from being struck by Ozma's guards. Immediately one green hand slid down to her stomach, fearful that the damage had slain her unborn child. There was no certain way of telling if it were alive or dead. Already she felt a little less in control, since she could no longer throw herself heedlessly into the jaws of death as she had done before in Oz. There would be no more defying gravity once she started showing.

A smile crept across her face. At least some of her old 'dry' humor was coming back. If only the broom could come back, wherever it had gone to. There was that incident where it caught fire in Kiamo Ko, that had sprung the trap. While she was being chased about, she feared that Dorothy wouldn't pick up the bucket unless she was 'forced' to do it. At the time, she didn't know that her love was the Scarecrow - just that he was alive and the official story was that he was dead - and even if she knew that the sack-headed Scarecrow with the painted smile was her beloved prince Fiyero, she couldn't 'single' him out for special treatment. She had to play her part to the end.

So she threatened him with fire. There was the bucket, then came the splash, and it was all over after that.

Another funny thought crossed the mind of Elphaba Thropp as she was pondering her 'murder'. Her father, Frexspar the Governor of Munchkinland, was a staunch Unionist and insisted that the people of Munchkinland worship the Unnamed God above all, even Lurline. Elphaba didn't care much for gods or spiritual leaders, she showed the brawny Sigurd as much, but, as if in spite, her father and mother had her given the name of Elphaba, after Saint Aelphaba of the Water-Fall.

Elphaba could not recall much of what the story was about it, but it suddenly dawned upon her that some might see her 'death' in Oz as reincarnation of Saint Aelphaba, and her death by water at Dorothy's hand the 'waterfall' from which she disappeared.

She had not come back, not yet, at least.

It made her smile, to think of the irony behind her apparent demise, and her choice of an alternate name for herself in this past Oz. But it did not bring her broom back. That wretched Dorothy most likely took it back to the Wizard as proof that she had killed the 'Wicked Witch of the West.' There would be no broom-flying, and more so in her condition.

Another thought was nagging at the back of her mind as she sat there by herself. Her father was hardly loving, her mother died when she was almost three, and Nessa was extremely ashamed of her 'green' sister. It seemed to Elphaba that she had no nurturing talent within her to be an adequate mother. These thoughts, combined with her separation from a wounded, possibly dying, Fiyero and from Glinda, plus a rush of hormones, sent tears down Elphaba's face as she threw herself on to the rough, straw-bed.

* * *

><p>There was a knock at the door.<p>

Elphaba quickly dried her face and tried to stop the springs in her head from pouring out any more tears. Have to get myself under control, she urged her brain.

The knock came again.

"Come in." she said at last.

The door opened, and a short Munchkin-woman waddled into the room. She gave a yelp of fright when she saw that the person she was to be waiting on was indeed green, as they had said.

"I'm not going to hurt you." Elphaba said to the Munchkin.

"Miss Aelphaba?"

She nodded.

"My name is Daisy Fromica," the Munchkin said. "I'll be serving you while you are here at the court of the Ozma. If there is anything I can do or get for you..."

"I want to see F..." She reminded herself of her current situation. "I want to see Yero."

"Why?"

"He's been injured! I have to see if he's still alive!"

"I'm sorry, but Ozma has ordered that you remain here until you are summoned to appear before her. But I'll see what I can do to find out about his condition for you, if that pleases you."

Elphaba sighed. That was probably as good as it would get in her present situation.

"For now, Miss Aelphaba," Daisy said. "Ozma requests that you appear before her while she attends to matters of state." The little Munchkin walked over to the door and waved two other hand-maids in, both of whom were carrying various dresses of various colors and designs.

"These two are your handmaids," Daisy said. She pointed to the one on the left. "That is Lia of the Minkos clan, and that one on the right is Naynee of Pfann Hall."

Elphaba had to stifle a giggle. It was a strange twist of fate, it seemed, that the ancestors of the two women who hated her the most were now serving on her. That rose up another thought, one that hadn't dawned upon the green woman's mind until just now.

"Ladies," Daisy said to them. "Draw a bath for Miss Aelphaba while I go tell Her Majesty that she is on her way."

The two bowed.

This was what Elphaba dreaded.

"No, wait!" she suddenly said. "I'm allergic to water. It burns my skin."

Daisy gave Elphaba a look up and down, wondering how something that, apart from being green, looked like any other human, had such a violent reaction to something as innocuous as water.

"Okay," she finally said. She then turned to the two maid-servants. "Ladies, why don't you help Miss Aelphaba into her dresses?"

"No!"

Daisy scoffed playfully. "Don't tell my you're allergic to dresses."

"No, of course not," the green woman replied. "But I'd rather change in private, if that's all the same to you."

Both of Daisy's eyebrows shot up in surprise. People usually didn't offer to undress themselves, it was the proper thing - especially in Gilikin society - to have servants change you.

"As you wish." the little Munchkin shrugged then shuffled the maids out of the room and closed it behind her. Before it slammed shut, she poked her head inside and said one last word.

"I'll be back shortly to bring you before the Ozma."

Elphaba nodded, and then Daisy Fromica exited the room, leaving Elphaba some time with herself.

Yes, she had lied. But it was the only way. She didn't know how far in the past she was - far enough to be before the Wizard arrived in Oz - and she couldn't take any chances. The huge Ozma upon the throne might as well be Ozma the Billious, the one who had died mysteriously due to 'rat poison' and left her daughter and Pastorius to rule Oz in her absence. That was just about the time when the Wizard arrived in Oz...when she herself was born.

Regardless, she was a green woman in Oz - the only green woman. But she also surmised that the other green woman, Elphaba, herself namely, would be born after whatever events transpired here. A green woman in Oz was surely a spectacle, and her presence here, before she had been officially born, meant that someone would know that there had been a green woman in Oz before. That posed a very serious problem.

The only way she was able to be here - alive instead of dead - was that she had allowed Oz to believe that she was allergic to water, and then exploited that rumor so she would effectively disappear, presumably dead to the people of Oz. Since she was here, in this time, that would mean that some people might remember her, even as far forward as her own time, when she was born. She could not risk people knowing that water did not affect her. Having seen one green woman - her in this time past - they would, as most prejudice people do, believe that any one of her type was the same. That would mean that if she did not now act allergic to water, they would be less likely to believe that Elphaba Thropp was allergic to water.

And what danger would that put her into? She might end up dead, and therefore erase her own existence by doing so.

Elphaba then attended her clothes, removing the old, worn dress and looking for something that might be suitable. Unfortunately, there seemed to be nothing that went well with her green skin.

* * *

><p>Several minutes later, a very shy Elphaba was hiding along the many cut-away passages in the Throne Room, dressed in a simple black dress. The ones she had been given were all very simple and unassuming, and she chose the one that was most plain. She didn't like drawing attention to herself.<p>

Besides, from what she had gathered, this Ozma was extremely insecure about herself, and with good reason. Though most of the Munchkins that Elphaba had known while growing up in Munchkinland were short and round, the standard of beauty - as set by the people of Gilikin - featured tall and thin, and especially pink. But this Ozma was so fat that it was no longer a matter of beauty or superficiality, but of life and death. She was morbidly huge! It didn't take Elphaba long to guess why this insecure Ozma wanted the plain, green woman around.

In fact, looking around, she saw that most of her servants were not very appealing. The male advisers were all very old. Many Animals were about, but Elphaba thought that their presence was not because of their importance, as with Mr. Fuzzims. The ladies-in-waiting were all very homely as well. She quickly concluded that Ozma kept 'odd' people around her so that, by comparison, she might appear beautiful.

Not even Galinda was that vain, Elphaba thought.

"The green woman, Aelphaba." Daisy announced.

Elphaba winced at being known by her skin color. The room hushed, and she slowly made her way out into the court. All eyes were drawn to the woman with the green skin, as she crossed the room and stood before Ozma.

"Sit here," the Ozma said, indicating with her large hand to a stool at her left-hand side, next to Mr. Fuzzims. Elphaba nodded and sat next to the Cat, who did not so much as turn to look at her.

"Her Grace," a young Gilikin man, the Ozma's royal announcer, spoke. "The Lady Koiyo."

The doors opened and a tall, stately woman entered the throne room. She had raven black hair and was clothed in shimmering, elegant robes of dark black, with a cloak of black swan-feathers flowing down her back. Since she was obviously not supposed to be speaking, Elphaba took the time to look about. Sure enough, her assumption was proven correct: the majority of the people here at court were very plain-looking and homely. In stark contrast, the Lady Koiyo seemed to attract attention. She was not only taller and thinner than Ozma, but, as far as Elphaba could discern, more beautiful as well.

"Your Majesty," Lady Koiyo said, bowing before Ozma.

"Lady Koiyo," Ozma said. "You were not expected back in our presence for another seven days."

"I beg your pardon, Majesty," Koiyo said, taking a step back in her defense. "But my negotiations with the Elements ended sooner than I had expected."

Ozma nodded. Elphaba, meanwhile, was puzzled that they spoke of the elements as if they were sentient beings.

"Then they will submit themselves to the will of Oz's ruler, then." Ozma concluded confidently.

"It is a little more complicated than that, Majesty." Koiyo continued. "The Elements were enchanted by Lurline when she brought Oz into existence. They have wills of their own, and, with respect, submission is a great disrespect to the Elements."

"What do I care what the wind thinks of its ruler?" Ozma said. "I will breathe it just the same. What do I care about the earth on which I stand? I will cut down all of the Great Gilikin Forest if need be to build a new city for myself." She rose her fat hand to silence Koiyo. "They may have been enchanted by Lurline, but I am Lurline's heir. To submit to me is to submit to Lurline. Likewise, to rebel against me is to rebel against the will of Lurline."

"In my view, Your Majesty," Koiyo said. "Neither of us should be trying to force the other into submission. We should come to a mutual agreement with the Elements, one that will see us show a certain level of respect towards the five elements..."

"While they are obliged to give us nothing in return?" Ozma queried. "It is the Elements who are at fault, for not submitting to my rule! Have they not brought our beloved Gilikin into an age of ever-winter?"

"But if a mutual consensus were made..."

The announcer walked back in. Seeing his presence, Ozma cut off Koiyo in mid sentence with a wave of her hand and indicated to the servant.

"The High Chancellor has returned!" he announced.

"Bring him in at once!" Ozma said, her face livening up as soon as the name was spoken. The announcer bowed, then stood aside.

"Lady Koiyo," Ozma returned, turning back to the elegant sorceress. "I suggest you return to your quarters and change into something more...suitable, before you return to pester me with questions about worshiping gusts of wind and sparks of fire!" She laughed, and all the others in the throne room laughed as if on queue.

Elphaba did not.

"But, please, Your Majesty!"

"If I am to be ruled by any council other than my own," Ozma said at last. "It shall be the High Chancellor's, not yours." She waved her away as if she were a fly upon her arm. Koiyo nodded then exited the hall.

Elphaba gasped when she saw who next entered the room.

It was the giant she and her friends had encountered in Quadling. He was still wearing the green robes that they found him in, and looked extremely imposing at his ten feet height, even having to stoop down to get through the doorway. He knelt before Ozma and bowed his head so low that his beard swept the floor.

"We welcome High Chancellor Okli back to Shiz," Ozma said. "How do you fare, my beloved adviser?"

"My journey was most eventful, Your Majest..." He looked up and saw the green woman at the Ozma's left. "Permission, Your Majesty, to speak freely."

"Granted."

"I see that you, strange green thing, have made your way to Shiz." Okli said, turning to Elphaba. She did not know if she could speak, and so she flashed Okli a heavily annoyed smile.

"If it pleases you, Your Majesty," Okli requested, turning to Ozma. "I would care to have a word with this green woman in private."

"If I can have one favor from you, Chancellor." Ozma returned.

"Anything," Okli bowed, perhaps even lower than he had before.

"Tell me about the mission that I commissioned you to undertake." Ozma said. "Is it done?"

Elphaba noticed that Okli looked a little annoyed by her question. She wondered what mission Ozma had sent this giant, her High Chancellor, upon and what it's completion meant, especially for her.

"It...it is done." Okli said hesitantly.

"Good!" Ozma squealed, clapping her fat hands together. "It is as it should be!" She then waved her hand, dismissing Okli. "You may speak with the Lady Aelphaba to your heart's desire. I've got to convince that stupid Koiyo that we are in control, not the Elements!"

"Majesty." Okli bowed before Ozma again.

Elphaba saw that he did not rise up, but walked rather on his knees over to her. He held out his hand and she placed her little green one in his giant grasp. He then led her into one of the side alcoves, where they could have a little space to themselves to speak privately.

"Are you indeed the green woman I met in the Quadling Marshes over ten days ago?" he asked.

"And if I am?"

"Well," Okli returned. "Then let me be the first to welcome you to the court of the Ozma."

"Thank you," she did not mean it that much. "May I ask you a question?"

"Certainly."

"Why do you wear green?"

He looked here and there and then lowered his voice to a whisper.

"Because," he answered, in his deep, almost seductively low, voice. "I believe in a new Oz. Not red, violet, blue or yellow, but green! Where all the people of Oz are equal, judged only by their contribution to all the people of Oz, rather than ancestry."

"Or skin color." Elphaba added.

He waved his hand in recognition.

"If Ozma knew this," she said. "What would she do?"

"If you're wise, Aelphaba," he returned. "You will refrain from getting too close to the Ozma."

"What are you saying?" she whispered. "Isn't that treas...?"

A finger of Okli's huge hand shushed her. Elphaba had to suppress the desire to lash out in rage at this person who dared to shush her.

"I have served her for many years," Okli began. "And can say from experience that she is foolish and stubborn. Oz should be ruled by those who will do good for the people, and make our country the apple of Lurline's eye, not by those who claim divine right."

"Why should I trust someone," she returned. "Who plans to betray someone they've served loyaly for years?"

A deep, threatening growl simmered in Okli's throat, deep behind his beard.

"You don't want me as an enemy, Elphaba." he returned. "Especially when I am your only hope of returning to where you come from." She flashed her a smile, then walked back to Ozma's side.

Elphaba was shivering inside. How did this giant know her right name, or that she was not from Oz? But perhaps the most disturbing, frightening and concerning thought that was etching its way through Elphaba's mind.

How did he know how to get back to where she came from?

* * *

><p><strong>(AN: Let me straighten out this, which I mused on before I uploaded this chapter. The Witch's death from <em>The Wonderful Wizard of Oz<em> is more in line with Elphaba's death from _Wicked_ the book. Since this is musical-verse, her 'death' is based on that from the _Wizard of Oz_ movie that we all know and [no longer] love. lol. As such, I needed an explanation as to why she attacked the Scarecrow with fire.)**

**(Some more reviews would be nice, especially in-depth ones. Perhaps it would serve as a catalyst for more updates and chapters. idk. This story is hardly over. But I still need feedback! [and I don't own the LotR references])**


	7. Politics

**(AN: Finally got a new chapter out! This story is definitely not going to be ten chapters long.)**

**(To _PocketSevens_, do you _really_ know where I'm going with this story, now? Of course I've thought of that, and that was hardly my goal. I've been dropping hints since _Another World_ and _The Great War of Oz_, it should be obvious that this story has nothing to do with the Wizard - it is set nine hundred years before the Wizard arrived in Oz! There's no way they could 'keep' him from arriving in Oz unless they killed the Diggs family ancestors in Ireland, and they're obviously in Oz. lol)**

**(Still 'musical-verse', and to remind everyone, I've put plenty of fluffy moments into this chapter.)**

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><p><strong>Politics<strong>

There was no way to know how much time passed here at Shiz, since the clock tower had not been created yet. Elphaba busied herself in her room with reading, since she was not allowed to roam unless in the presence of Ozma. She was also a little concerned about what was going on with the High Chancellor. How did he know who she really was, and where she was from? Part of her wanted to keep her distance, while another part was shocked that she could be thinking ill about someone so early on just because he was a giant with a deep voice.

There were no mirrors in this room, so Elphaba could not look at her reflection. It was not entirely like a prison sentence, for Daisy would often stop by with food. It was not the best, but it was good enough and it kept Elphaba alive and healthy.

One day, she did not know when it had been, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." she said, expecting little Daisy Fromica to come in, with a smile on her face, a plate in her hands and no news about Fiyero.

What she saw instead, however, brought a smile to her own face.

"Elphie!" Glinda hissed with excitement. The green woman rose from where she sat at her bed and hugged her little blond friend. Glinda made an 'ooh' sound, and then pushed herself away, looking down at Elphaba.

"Aw!" the little blond woman commented. "My Elphie's got a baby bump!"

Elphaba laughed, falling backwards onto the bed.

"What in Oz's name is so hilariocious?" Glinda asked as she flopped onto the bed at Elphaba's side.

"Just the way you said that," Elphaba returned, a smile on her face, while breathing through laughs. "It brings back memories."

"Can I touch it?" Glinda whispered, her hand reaching out conspicuously towards the small rise that had been forming on Elphaba's stomach.

Elphaba nodded. The little blond hand came to rest upon the swell, which was still very small.

"Sweet Oz, has it been this long already?" Elphaba asked. "We must have been here longer than we thought."

"Oh, its just a little one, Elphie!" Glinda commented, a huge smile splitting her face from side to side. "Oh, what are you going to name it?"

"I'm three months along, Glinda!" Elphaba returned. "I don't think now is the time to be talking about names."

"It was just an idea." Glinda pouted playfully.

Elphaba placed her hand on her friend's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap." she said. "It's been tough, being trapped here with nothing to do." Suddenly it came back into his mind. "Where's Fiyero? Is he alright?"

"He's fine, Elphie." Glinda returned. "Whatever that Captain...uh, Ten-something, or whatever...said about people not dying in Oz while Ozma ruled, its for real. None of the physicians would touch him, but his condition didn't worsen. I ended up having to..."

"What did you say?" Elphaba rose up.

"I said I ended up having to take the bolt out of him myself." Glinda said. "It was awful! So bloody! But I think he's getting better."

"No, no, before that."

"None of the physicians would touch him?"

"Why not?"

"They said..." Glinda bit the bottom of her lip, both of her hands falling nervously into her own lap. "Oh, Elphie! It's just so horrible! I can't believe Gilikin-people were ever this way!"

"What did they say?"

"They said they don't touch Winkies." she sobbed. "That he's as good as dirt."

Elphaba's face said it all.

"Elphie, please!" Glinda begged. "We can't have you flying off the handle again! We're not in our own Oz and we need to get back. And think of the baby!"

She sighed, collapsing against the side of the wall.

"I do, Glinda." she sobbed. "I think about it all the time - and it makes me feel worse. I'm becoming weak, limited, powerless!"

"Elphie," Glinda walked over to her best friend's side and placed her arm around her. "It'll be okay, you'll see."

"But what if I'm not cut out for motherhood, Glinda?"

"Well, you've got me." she smiled.

Elphaba either thought that Glinda was joking or, if serious, that she was doomed. She started sobbing even more. Glinda embraced her friend, letting the green woman's green tears fall onto her dress. It didn't matter. Elphaba had been strong for her before, and now she needed to be strong for Elphaba.

"I want to see 'Yero!" Elphaba sobbed.

Glinda suddenly gasped.

"What?"

"I think I can help you!" she whispered. She took Elphaba by the hand and led her out of the room.

"Glinda, what are you..."

"Shh!" Glinda hissed.

"What are you doing?" Elphaba repeated in a lower voice.

"I've been sneaking out of my room," she whispered, leading Elphaba down the deserted hallway. "Mostly just stealing some things to help Fifi."

"He's not a kid anymore, Glinda!" Elphaba hissed. "His name is Fiyero."

"Okay, okay!" Glinda rolled her eyes. "The physicians wouldn't help him, so I took it upon myself to do what I could."

"But you're no physician."

"I have a little bit of knowledge," Glinda said. "I healed Fif...Fiyero, after he was wounded that one time in Mordor." They suddenly became deathly silent, as the mere pronunciation of that dreadful place sounded out of place here in Oz.

"Uh," Elphaba continued. "I've been reading." She didn't know why she said it, maybe to seem that she hadn't been idle while Glinda was tending to Fiyero - what she should be doing instead.

"Elphie," Glinda stopped. "I know what you're thinking, and the answer is no."

"How do you know what I'm thinking?" Elphaba asked.

"You said it yourself," Glinda said. "Before; we're in Oz's past."

"Exactly!"

"But you can't be doing anything rash, Elphie!" Glinda continued.

"I'm not going to do any rash, Glinda!"

"I know you better than that! If you think something bad is happening to the people of Oz, especially the Animals, you'll stop at nothing until its justified."

"Should I just keep my mouth shut? Do nothing?"

"Elphie! We're nine hundred years in the past! You can't stop the Wizard from coming to Oz, and even if you could, you wouldn't be born if he didn't come here."

"Who says I want to stop him?" The thought had definitely crossed her mind, but another one had as well. "Wait, how do you know how far back in time we are?"

"I'm from Gilikin, Elphie!" Glinda returned. "Duh! The old stories my nannies used to tell me said that there hasn't been snow in Gilikin in nine hundred years. They said the Three Adepts subdued the Elements and lifted the ever-winter from the north-lands."

Elphaba felt very odd, and jealous as well. How could Glinda know something that she, Elphaba, did not? She had been too long stuck in that cold room, kept away from everything that she loved and was so good at doing.

"Here, this way." she led Elphaba to an alcove behind a suit of armor, she pushed on one of the stones of the wall, and it slid back, revealing a secret passage. Elphaba crawled after her on her hands and knees through the narrow corridor. She felt nervous, and a sudden fear came over her: she would get stuck and wouldn't be able to move either back to safety or farther into the tunnel. It seemed likely that she would get stuck, and Elphaba's hands started to quake as they moved one in front of the other.

"We're almost there, Elphie." Glinda's voice echoed in the hard, stone walls of the tunnel.

After what seemed like an eternity of darkness and fearing to get stuck, Glinda's be-gown'd form disappeared and there was light at the end of the tunnel: dim, shaking candlelight, but it was still light. Gasping for air, Elphaba crawled the last length of the tunnel and almost dropped onto her face once she cleared the room.

Glinda ran to Elphaba's side and helped her up to her feet, walking her over to the bed. Lying in it, wrapped in blood-stained sheets and bandages, was the smiling form of her lover.

Smiling because he was back with her.

"Fae!" he said. There was no weakness in his voice. In fact, he rose to his feet and helped bring Elphaba to rest on the bed. Once she was lying upon the covers, he placed himself haphazardly on the other side, planting a kiss on her lips once he was settled.

Elphaba moaned softly. "Yero, my hero."

Fiyero smiled. "I never get tired of hearing that."

Glinda pulled up a stool and sat down at the other side, feeling very forlorn, as usual when Elphaba and Fiyero started kissifying in front of her.

"Wait a minute," Fiyero suddenly said. His hand moved down from Elphaba's shoulder onto the gentle swell of her stomach. He smiled.

Glinda was also smiling. Though she did not have her 'happily ever after', she was enjoying living vicariously through her two friends.

"Uh," she said at last. "I think it's time we go back, Elphie."

"I don't want to go!" she gripped Fiyero tightly. Glinda was reminded of herself in the green woman's response.

"They'll notice you're missing, Fae." Fiyero stated. "I'll see you later." He kissed her on the lips, the two parting with an affectionate 'mwah'. It made Glinda giggle.

Even so, she wished that she could have someone to sweep her off her feet and have fun kissing as well.

Neither of them said any words while they made their way back to Elphaba's room. The trek through the tunnel wasn't much easier, and the hallway was no longer deserted. The two had to hide every two second to keep from being spotted by patrols of soldiers or idle nobles pacing the halls on their way back from the court of the Ozma.

They finally got back to the room, with Glinda closing the door to make sure they weren't followed.

"Elphie?" she said once they were alone. The green woman turned up to her friend. "I...uh, have a confession to make."

"What's wrong, Glinda?"

"I, uh..." she stammered. "I've never really told you this. But, uh, after you and Fiyero left Worms, I, uh, became..."

"Just say it."

"I was angry at you, Elphaba." Glinda said, returning to the use of her full name. "You left me behind, but...well, I had something else. I admit that I've been a bit jealous of you, you and Fiyero. You have the perfect, fairy tale ending that I've always longed for - a handsome prince, a life together...well, maybe not everything, but you're happy. That's all I want, Elphie. To be happy!"

Elphaba held out her hand, offering Glinda to accept it. The little blond reached out, encircling Elphaba's green hand with her pale-pink fingers.

"I guess it must be hard," Elphaba said. "Seeing your best friend with..."

"I gave up on Fiyero and I having a future long before," Glinda said. "But I wish I had something like what you have."

Elphaba hugged Glinda. They remained locked in each other's arms for a long time, neither willing to let go or say a word.

After a long while, they parted. Glinda pulled the door open then quietly closed it. Elphaba kept her ears perked, until the staccato sound of Glinda's boots upon the stone-floors vanished.

"Touching."

Elphaba turned around suddenly, turning to see who had invaded her room. The wardrobe opened up and out stepped the tall form of Koiyo, still clad in black robes.

"What are you doing here?" Elphaba insisted.

"Recruiting." Koiyo walked lazily over to a stool, then waved her hand. It rearranged itself, before Elphaba's eyes, into a very posh chair overlaid with gold and covered with black velvet cushions. Koiyo seated herself the chair very gracefully.

"And just what exactly are you recruiting for?"

Koiyo said nothing, closing her eyes as if nothing else mattered. Her lids were very heavy, but Elphaba felt that the woman's big, blue eyes were looking at her from beneath those huge lids.

"How did you get in here?"

"There are no boundaries for those of my kind." Koiyo said.

"'Your kind?'"

"Have you ever heard of the Kumbric Witch?"

Elphaba nodded.

"A legend, some say." Koiyo continued. "The most powerful sorceress in the land of Oz, so powerful that they've attributed Oz's creation to her, rather than to Lurline."

Elphaba's mind was quick at work. Being almost a thousand years into Oz's past meant many things.

"You know of the Witch?"

"The stories?" Koiyo inquired. "There's truth in them, just as there's a little truth in every lie out there. But this lie is truth: I saw Kumbricia herself."

"How?"

"A witch does not die, Lady Aelphaba." Koiyo continued. "She might disappear, but she will always find ways of returning."

"Is that what you're trying to recruit me for?" Elphaba asked. "Some sorceress cult dedicated to the Kumbric Witch?"

"Hardly," Koiyo smiled. "From what I've gathered, you've been in the presence of Ozma."

Elphaba nodded.

"And you know what she's like."

She had an idea of what this Ozma was like, but she was interested in listening to what Koiyo had to say.

"What do you think she's like?"

"A stupid, silly little girl." Koiyo began. "This new generation is filled with them: appearance and mannerisms matter more to them than duty, honor and the greater betterment of Oz. But this Ozma grows fat while Gilikin freezes from her refusal to apologize to the Elements for the offenses she made against them."

Elphaba tried not to gasp. Just how many people at court were conspiring against Ozma, she wondered?

"Ozma has no desire other than to eat, hold parties and surround herself with ugly people to make herself feel better about her own inadequacies. The people suffer while she refuses to help. She only keeps Animals to laugh at them as oddities.

"The Chancellor is the only one who has any real desire for change. He has done all he could to protect Oz and keep her from harm. Unfortunately, his power is severely limited, since, officially, he is only Ozma's adviser. He can only advise Ozma the way to go: it will be her choice whether or not to listen to him, and she usually doesn't."

"How do I fit into all this?"

"Sorceresses can sense the presence of power," Koiyo answered. "And I've discovered that you're quite powerful. If you are interested in doing something to save Oz, be free to attend a private meeting, where many profitable things will be discussed."

Elphaba did not exactly hold with what this woman was talking about either. Words like 'duty', 'honor' and 'the greater betterment of Oz' were often used by the Wizard and, especially, Madam Morrible, to stir the people of Oz against her. Though she didn't hold with the demeaning way this Ozma treated her subjects, especially the Animals, she was a bit wary about joining with any group.

Especially if she was displaced in a time past.

"When will this meeting be?" she asked.

"Ah, I can't tell you." Koiyo smiled deviously.

"Why?"

"Because I don't know yet." Koiyo returned. "And even if I did, I'd have to know that I can trust you."

"Where will it be?" Elphaba inquired.

"The same."

"How will I know when the meeting will occur?"

"You'll see."

Before Elphaba's eyes, Koiyo vanished in a haze of black and white. Perhaps that was how she had suddenly appeared. Though coming and going by bubble was definitely showy, and the broom was, in her mind, most efficient, simply vanishing like that was indeed an amazing trick.

The lavish chair then returned to a stool.

* * *

><p><strong>(AN: A bit filler, but it works later on in the story. Just wait)<strong>

**(I've always read the name as 'Kumbrica' rather than 'Kumbricia'. Kind of like with 'Dr. Boskovitch' from _Tekken_; sometimes your pronunciation sounds better than what is 'officially' accepted, like how _caramel_ is sometimes pronounced '_care-amel_' rather than '_carmel_'.)**

**(Unlike most ffs that I've read in which Elphaba is with child, I'm stretching it out so we can see all of the 'awkward' moments that occur while she's hormonal and emotional. That's partially the reason why she's always breaking down and crying.)**

**(I'll try to get a new chapter out a.s.a.p.)**


	8. Apples and Fairies

**(AN: To any who may have been reading _A Second Chance_ as well as this story, this is where the second chapter I promised is going.)**

**(I'm on a role today! Hopefully I can keep this up. If I disappear again, it's probably because I've fallen off this 'Crazy Train' of inspiration, or because I finally got shoved back into society's brick wall and have a job. [don't sue me, Ozzy and Floyd!])**

**(Some nice, fluffy Fiyeraba moments in this chapter, though important stuff does happen. And it sets the scene for our next chapter, where more intrigue occurs.)**

* * *

><p><strong>Apples and Fairies<strong>

Elphaba heard no more from Koiyo after her sudden appearance. Nor did she see anything more of the Chancellor. Aside from the Ozma and her repertoire of 'oddities', Elphaba didn't really have much freedom. It pained her, as much as being trapped in a tight tunnel made her afraid: she was born to 'fly', which was how, sometimes, especially after she exploded from the Emerald Palace's roof that clear afternoon, it was as if she was flying rather than the broom she had enchanted. It made her pregnancy even harder on her. She wanted to be out and about, doing something rather than just lying in bed, sitting quietly at court, sitting on the stool or pacing about, reading and watching her stomach slowly growing.

Glinda, however, tried to meet with her as often as she could. They passed as much information between each other as they could, though that itself was scarce. Fiyero, it seemed, was feeling much better. So much, in fact, that he wanted to see Elphaba alone in her room together. Though Fiyero had been ignored by the people at Shiz Palace, it would definitely cause a stir if he was found in the green woman's room.

To that end, the two women spent many visits planning a time when they could be in opposite rooms and Fiyero could visit Elphaba in privacy. This was what the two were up to right at the moment. Glinda had managed to bribe a servant with extra food in order to receive a map of the Shiz Palace. After finding ink and a pen, Glinda began making marks on the map she had procured. She was lying on her front, with the map up on one of the pillows and her legs idly kicking the air. Next to her was Elphaba, lying on her back, with one hand behind the back of her head and another resting at her side.

"Okay, Elphie." Glinda said. "I've marked our location on the map." She held up the map from the pillow. The green woman turned to look at it. "Here," She pointed to a room marked with a tiny x. "That's your room." She then traced with her finger to another room on the far side of the castle, marked with two x's. "This is where Fif...Fiyero and I are located."

"Look at you, Glinda." Elphaba commented fondly. "Planning and thinking all on your own."

"Well, when you've got so much time on your hands with nothing else to do." Glinda commented. "How are you, Elphie? Feeling any better?"

"Yes." Elphaba nodded. "I'm not as nauseous as before, just really restless. I wish I was doing something."

"Then help me plan." Elphaba rolled over onto her side as Glinda placed the map in between them.

"You're better at hiding, Elphie," Glinda said. "So you'll go to my room. I guess I'll just stay here in your room. Just give me a knock and tell me its you when you get back."

Elphaba nodded.

"I can't believe it, Elphie." Glinda sighed.

"What can't you believe?"

"You're going to be a mother!" Glinda was smiling, but trying to force back tears of joy from streaming down her face.

Just then, there was a knock at the door. Glinda grabbed the map and threw it under the bed.

"Come in." Elphaba replied.

She barely kept a cry of shock from escaping her lips as she saw who entered the room. About average height, with auburn hair tied back into a tight bun, this woman bore herself with even more grace and poise than Ozma did. But it was the face that Elphaba was drawn towards. Late middle-age, with the last bits of beauty still clinging stubbornly to her body, there was something very unsettling about the way she looked in Elphaba's eyes.

Almost like a fish.

"Lady Aelphaba," the woman said. "I am secretary to the High Chancellor. I heard that your friend was last seen coming into this room, the Gilikin woman."

Glinda gasped. She thought she had been more clever than that.

"Ozma wishes to speak with you, Lady Glinda," the fish-faced woman said. "Regarding your claim as a member of the clan Arduenna."

Glinda nodded in recognition. Elphaba, however, was nervous. There was probably no record of a Glinda in the Arduenna clan at this time, and therefore she would be in hot water once Ozma discovered this fact.

"Okay, then we'll go to her at once." Elphaba said.

"Not you, Lady Aelphaba." the woman said, raising her hand palm out in her direction. "The Ozma has not summoned for you to appear before her today."

Elphaba was even more nervous than before. How could Glinda get herself out of this mess unless she was at her side? Or maybe Elphaba was feeling useless, trapped here in this room of hers, and wanted to do something important? Or perhaps she thought herself too important as it was...

"I'm sorry," she mouthed to Glinda.

"Fiyero." was what she mouthed back.

Glinda walked over to the fish-faced woman.

"Lead on." she said.

"Right this way, dearie." she offered her the arm. Glinda did not accept, but they walked out just the same.

"Uh, Madam Secretary?" Elphaba asked.

"Lady Morrible, if you will." the auburn-haired, fish-faced woman returned, before closing the door.

She knew it. It was a distant ancestor of Madam Morrible's, there was no doubt with that cod-like face. A very funny thought came into Elphaba's mind: what if that was actually Madam Morrible herself? She looked old enough in her time. But it was only in jest, and Elphaba did not take that thought very seriously. People lived long in Oz, that was for certain, but people also died during the reign of the Wizard. This person was definitely an ancestor, she confirmed.

But she was also puzzled by Glinda's last statement. Did she want her to go and see Fiyero? Quickly, she took the map and made her way over to the door.

* * *

><p>In the hallway, the Lady Secretary to the Chancellor led Glinda down to the throne room. She had only been before Ozma once, and she did not like how she had treated Elphaba. This left no doubt in Glinda's mind that, whatever might happen, it would probably not end well for her.<p>

Just then, the Lady Morrible knocked into a Munchkin servant, sending the clean pans she had been carrying down onto the floor.

"Mind yourself!" she growled. "Clumsy little child."

Glinda recognized the Munchkin. It was Daisy Fromica, the one Elphaba had mentioned waited upon her. She had often-times seen her leaving Elphaba's room just before she herself made her secret entrance.

But once Daisy saw Glinda, she dropped the pans she had been carrying, her mouth gaping open like a cavern.

"Oh, sweet Lurline!" she gasped. Before Glinda could say 'toss toss', Daisy threw herself down prostrate before her. "Forgive me, O gentle Queen of the Fairies!"

"This one?" Lady Morrible said, pointing to Glinda. "Queen of the Fairies?" She laughed in mockery.

"I'm afraid she's right." Glinda said. "I'm just Glinda."

"Oh," Daisy said. "But you must be a fairy, one of Lurline's band! Please, I beg you, bring peace to Oz!"

"Peace to Oz?" Lady Morrible returned angrily. "There IS peace in Oz! As long as the Ozma lives, there is nothing to worry about." She then turned to Glinda. "Hurry along, dearie."

Glinda wanted to say something, to convince this little Munchkin woman that she wasn't Lurline or even a fairy.

"Speak kindly to Lurline of me, Glinda!" Daisy called back.

* * *

><p><em>Finally<em>, she thought, _she was doing something._

It felt good to stretch her legs out with a nice walk across the castle, especially if it was towards the room that Fiyero and Glinda shared. Keeping watch on the halls, making sure she didn't run into any patrols, she made her way as quietly as she could. Her blood was pumping and her heart was beating heavily beneath her chest, just above the steadily growing mountain that was her expanding womb.

At last she was in the corridor. There was still a good deal of castle left to go, but the secret tunnel that Glinda had shown her cut off a good deal of that trek and led directly into their room. However, now almost five months along, Elphaba wasn't sure she could still fit through such a small tunnel.

She would have to risk the long way.

Taking out the map again, she followed the corridor through its end. She only paused to jump behind suits of armor in the cutaway alcoves in case a patrol passed through that way. Only once did this happen, but it was enough to make her feel unnerved.

For the next half of an hour, she wound her way through the castle halls, all the while tracing her steps on the map. Glinda was not joking when she said that their room was on the opposite end of the castle, for it seemed to Elphaba has though she had walked a long distance already, dodging patrols and meandering aristocrats, for too long.

At last, there it was. Her heart began to pound loudly against her rib-cage. Quietly she raised a hand and rapped softly upon the door.

"Who's there?" a voice called from the other end.

"It's Fae." she whispered.

The sound of shuffling footsteps was heard, and then the door came open. Elphaba threw herself into Fiyero, who barely had time to bring up his arms around her.

"I've missed you, Yero!" she sobbed into his shoulder.

"Hey," Fiyero said, closing the door behind them. "Don't cry. It's okay. We're here, together now."

Elphaba kissed him again, wrapping her arms around his neck. From her tight grip, she did not want to let go any time soon.

She kissed him again, and it was then that she noticed something.

"Yero," she said, with a hint of surprise. "Are you...growing a beard?"

"Well," he blushed. "I mean, they don't let me shave, and Glinda's not been able to swipe a knife or mirror, so...yeah, I guess I haven't had time for that."

"I like it," she returned, kissing him again. "You look...like a man."

That made Fiyero feel just a bit more confident. For so long he felt still like a youth, trying to act like a man. To be called a man and recognized as one in the eyes of his beloved meant more to him than all the emeralds in the Glikkus or all the rubies believed to be in the swamps of Quadling.

The two locked lips again, sighing and breathing heavily as both of their mouths were wrapped around the other.

* * *

><p>"The Lady Glinda." the servant announced.<p>

Ozma clapped her hands together madly as her Monkey jester performed before her. When the servant announced that Glinda had arrived, she looked up at her servant.

"What is she dressed in?" she asked.

"A blue travel dress." the servant returned.

"Is it nice?"

"It's a bit shabby, Your Majesty. It's been torn in places. It hardly compares to the clothes of Your Majesty."

"And her face," she continued. "Is it...pretty?"

"Oh, yes, Your Majesty." But the servant spoke out of turn. He knew that the moment Ozma glared at him. She then turned to the Monkey.

"Push off, fool! You're done here."

"Your Majesty." the Monkey bowed before her and then walked out of the room with a low-hanging head.

"Ladies!" Ozma summoned her ladies-in-waiting. "Bring out the royal artists! Her Majesty - namely me..." She giggled at what she thought was great wit on her part. "Must look her absolute best. No one must ever outshine Ozma, nope nope nope!"

A few minutes later, Glinda was ushered into the room of the Ozma. None of the other courtiers were about. Lady Morrible brought her forward to the center of the room.

"Out, leave us." Ozma said. The guards began to leave. "You will stay, Lady Morrible."

The doors resounded ominously as they closed behind the exiting guards. Glinda felt suddenly alone.

"You are not from the Arduenna clan," Ozma spoke at last. "As you so deceptively claimed to be."

"What?"

"It took many months to hear back from the clan," Ozma continued. "And nowhere do they have any records of a woman named...Glinda. Therefore, it seems to us, that...you have deceived us."

"Your Majesty, please." Glinda began.

"You are a liar!" Ozma shouted. "I don't like lying!"

"I..." Glinda was at a sudden lost for words.

"Your Majesty," the Lady Morrible spoke up. "I beg your pardon upon this simple creature."

"Why?"

"The people!" she said. "I've heard one of the servants say that she is Lurline returned to us."

"I see," Ozma replied facetiously, turning to Glinda. "So you want to steal my throne?"

"No, Your Majesty." Lady Morrible walked over to Ozma, bowing low as she approached the pedestal upon which the huge ruler sat. She then whispered something to Ozma that Glinda could not make out clearly.

To Glinda's surprise, Ozma's demeanor changed.

"You are not Lurline, that much is certain." she said. "If my divine mother needed to send someone, she would have sended me."

Glinda used the fancilocious dialect of upper-class Gilikinese, but 'sended' was just not right.

"However," Ozma continued. "As my esteemed colleague has so aptly put it, the people flock to you like midges to the frog-people of the Quadling marshes. Therefore we think it meet that you will stay at court, given the finest dresses, the best food, the best lodgings - all within reason, of course - and appoint you a commission as Her Majesty's...ambassador of good-will among the people."

She had heard Madam Morrible use similar words before.

"You want me to tell the people to trust you in all things." Glinda returned.

"And smart as well!" Ozma giggled. "How inspiring!" Glinda could not help thinking of a very large pig with white face and huge red lips painted onto its face, bouncing up and down upon its cushioned throne, when Ozma giggled.

"And my friends?" Glinda asked. "Aelphaba and Yero."

"I want my little green ducky here with me," Ozma said. "She's very bright, you know. Whenever she enters a room, everything becomes beautiful because she is in there. As for the wild man, I couldn't care less if he bludgeoned himself to death with a club, so long as he doesn't cause any disturberances."

Glinda still felt a little uneasy at this request. She was being forced back into 'propagandament', just like with the Wizard.

"Do you accept this offer?" Ozma asked.

Do I have a choice, Glinda thought. A nod was sufficient enough.

* * *

><p>They were together on the bed. All they had done was make out, at Elphaba's request. She was excited to be back with Fiyero again, but not so excited that she would do anything that might jeopardize the life of the baby within her. They were lying down upon the bed, completely oblivious to the coarseness of the straw mattress. Elphaba's hair was unbound, strewn about on the grey pillows like veins of black gold trailing spider-like across a wall of granite.<p>

Both of them were looking into each other's eyes.

"Can I see it?" Fiyero asked.

Elphaba rolled her eyes.

"You and Glinda both!" she sighed. "It's always 'Can I touch it?' or 'Can I see it?'" Her imitation of Glinda made Fiyero smile. "Sometimes I don't want to be poked and prodded, Fiyero."

"Okay, okay! Forget I asked." Fiyero said, getting up and sitting on the edge of the bed. So much for their post-make out mood. It was now in pieces, and all he wanted to do was recover from whatever he had said wrong. After all, it was his child, he should be able to see it.

He felt a soft hand come to rest on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Yero." she returned. To punctuate her feeling, she planted a kiss on his right cheek. He turned his head and kissed her back. She moved around him, moving now to plant herself sitting in front of him, resting her head on his shoulder.

One emerald hand reached up and came to rest upon the side of Fiyero's chin, while the other one adjusted her dress just a little bit, revealing what Fiyero had desired.

His first thought was of a large, green apple. He smiled, trying not to say anything so silly, and instead placed his hand upon it. Her flesh was soft and warm beneath his fingers, and his nose was filled with the sweet smell of her hair. Elphaba sighed, placing her own hand upon his.

Just then, Fiyero gasped.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Did you feel that?" he returned.

"Feel what?" Now she was interested.

"Right here." He moved her hand to one side of her stomach, and then waited.

"Ah!" Elphaba cried out in joy. A smile erupted across her face, and he smiled as well.

They both felt the baby move in Elphaba's womb beneath their hands.

* * *

><p><strong>(AN: Yes, I can be cute too!)<strong>

**(Sorry if my idea of romance is dry and not to 'your liking.' I'm not experienced with romance, and the one original story that I was writing, a romance called _Red and Gold_, I'm considering not continuing because its going to be digging into very personal matters and I'm not sure if I want to relive that. I know I said I wouldn't abandon a story, but I'm seriously considering it.)**

**(If you have no idea what I just said, go on over to _FictionPress_ and check out _Red and Gold_ by me. Leave your opinion if you want me to continue or not. If I get enough feedback, maybe I will.)**

**(Yes, I had one of Madam Morrible's ancestors in this tale. But no, I'm not going to have her get killed off, because she is just a 'supporting' character, not one of the main cast. I'll try to think up some in-depth, good intrigue for the next chapter and have it over as soon as possible.)**


	9. A Secret Meeting

**(AN: Well, what do you know? _Three_ chapters in one day! I hope I can keep this up, my stories are looking very peaked without more chapters to flesh them out)**

**(Here is the next chapter. I hoped that this is sufficient. Much better things will happen in the later chapters, I can promise you.)**

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><p><strong>A Secret Meeting<strong>

Elphaba and Fiyero were both asleep now. The 'quickening' had excited both of them, and they spent the next several minutes examining Elphaba's green stomach, waiting for some sign of movement. Eventually the night wore on and their candle went out. They were both so tired that they did not feel like lighting another one, and so both succumbed to weariness and fell asleep in each other's arms. Though Elphaba was certain Fiyero had somehow managed to fall asleep with his hand somewhere on her.

A hand came to rest on her shoulder. Elphaba cried out, but was stunned to hear that no sound came from her mouth. Looking around, she saw Koiyo standing over their bed, looming like a huge black swan. Elphaba quickly pulled her dress back down over her stomach.

"If you want to know the truth," she whispered. "Come with me."

Elphaba gasped, feeling her voice returning to her. But before she could say anything, Koiyo walked right into the door. She made no sound but, to Elphaba's surprise, vanished straight through the door as if walking through walls was as easy to her as walking through air.

Carefully extricating herself from Fiyero's grasp, Elphaba opened the door and quietly tip-toed out into the hall. Just down the hall she saw the figure of Koiyo walking very gracefully down the corridor, without fear as if she owned the place. Elphaba walked faster to keep up with her, and was now trailing behind the swan cloak.

"So you decided to trust me?" Elphaba asked. "Took you long enough."

"The time was not my decision," Koiyo responded. "He called the meeting."

"He? Who is he exactly?"

"All in due time, Aelphaba."

"But-But how do you know I can be trusted?"

"Because, at the very best," Koiyo responded, not even turning around. "If you betray our trust, I can turn you into a fish and throw you into the Restwater Lake."

"And at the worst?"

"I'll just kill you."

Now Elphaba had reason to be alarmed. She had just been threatened with death, and, from the way Koiyo was so easy about saying it, she figured that this sorceress had no qualms about killing.

"I thought people couldn't die in Oz while Ozma ruled."

This brought Koiyo to a halt. She turned around on her heels to face Elphaba, a smile upon her face.

"My dear Aelphaba," Koiyo responded. "There are some powers in this world that are beyond even Ozma's control, magical or otherwise." She turned back and continued down the hall, Elphaba following silently after her.

Koiyo led Elphaba to a part of the castle far beyond where they had ever gone before. They were now no longer upon the map, but going through a dark tunnel, dimly lit by wall-hanging torches, that sloped gently downward. The two women were now deep beneath the earth, in a part of Shiz that Elphaba had never dreamed had even existed. Perhaps it had been walled off in the nine hundred years in between, or something, but she never heard of any tunnels in Ozma Towers.

At the very bottom of the descent, they entered upon a wide room, filled with cutaway recesses in the cold stone walls around them. Within those recesses were stone cases, all of them with the effigy of a young woman carved upon the lid. The women all looked about the same age and had the same features.

"What is this?" Elphaba asked.

"Our meeting chamber." Koiyo returned. "The tomb of the Ozmas."

"I thought Ozmas couldn't die." Elphaba returned.

"You know very little about them, then." Koiyo returned. It was true. There hadn't been an Ozma in Oz in her life-time, and the books that she 'borrowed' from Nessarose's history tutors said not much detail about the Ozmas. Nor did the old tomes that Dr. Dillamond and the library at Shiz possessed offer much more than that what was not considered 'legend.'

"Enlighten me." Elphaba said.

Koiyo rolled her eyes. "An Ozma is believed to be Lurline's daughter incarnated in a young girl, usually of Gilikinese ancestry. While she rules as Ozma, nothing in Oz grows old or dies. But she also has a choice of her own: to live forever young, or to grow old, live out an existence of three hundred years and eventually die." She turned to Elphaba.

"Who wouldn't want something like that, huh?" she queried. "The option to leave this life if it grows too weary. As you can see..." She indicated to the sarcophagi about them. "Several Ozmas did get weary...some of them, well, they had no other choice."

Elphaba nodded, though she did not understand what she meant by 'no other choice', unless it meant murder.

"Now..." Koiyo held out one hand and spoke a phrase in a strange language. Several figures suddenly appeared. Elphaba saw a man in strange clothing with a helmet upon his head, an Elephant, a person clad in white robes, and a very large figure that, at first, Elphaba did not recognize.

It was High Chancellor Okli. Some great change had overtaken him in the few months since she saw him. He looked sick, thin, his face pale and the skin stretched tightly upon the bones. His beard and hair, lustrous dark shades, were now graying and hair was starting to fall out.

"Aelphaba," Koiyo said. "Welcome to our meeting. These are those who have volunteered to help us." She pointed to the man with the helmet. "This is Gianocco, the ambassador from the Skeezers of Ugabu. Unlike us, they're more...advanced, as it were, and do not have to fear the Elements."

"The Skeezers take great pride in our science and technology." Gianocco said. "We're the most advanced of all the people in Oz, I daresay."

"This is Luani DeMalu," Koiyo said, indicating to the Elephant. "He is of the Yunamata tribe of the Vinkus." The Elephant inclined his great head in Elphaba's direction.

"I believe you've already met Chancellor Okli." she stated.

"I told her about you, Aelphaba." Okli spoke. His voice sounded strange, very haggard and old. Elphaba was thankful that he did not use her right name.

"This," Koiyo indicated to the one in white. "Is Locasta, the Guardian of the South."

The white-clad person remained immobile.

"Chancellor" Koiyo turned to the giant form of Okli. "The floor is yours."

The giant rose up from where he sat and, all the while crouched, closed in their circle.

"Fellows, conspirators, men and women...and Animals, united in a common cause," he began. "As we all know, the ruling Ozma has no desire to govern her people. She passes rulings based not on what is best for her people, but on what her current mood or feeling dictates. For the last few years, I have striven to unite Oz, to raise it up to its former glory..." His face fell as he spoke, and Elphaba supposed some great misfortune had befallen.

"My...services, even included taking an unwilling part in the war against the giants, my own people. My betrayal has brought with it no fruit, for Ozma continues to think of herself first and never of Oz."

"She still refuses to reconcile with the Elements." Koiyo added.

"Elements, bah!" Gianocco mocked. "Who needs magic and elements when you have the power of technology on your side! You highlanders are still riding about on unicorns, while the people of Ugabu have discovered the wheel and ways to turn it without using Animals as beasts of burden."

"Hear hear!" Luani added with a shake of his huge fore-foot.

"Your point?" Koiyo inquired.

"Why does Ozma refuse an alliance with the Skeezers," Gianocco continued. "Especially when we can be to mutual benefit! Our technology can save Gilikin from disaster at the hands of these elements and, in return, we might be able to move into the Vinkus to expand our borders. There's rumor of gold in those hills."

"Gold means nothing to the Ozmas." Locasta said. "Or to any of the people of Oz."

"From what I've gathered," Koiyo said. "Ozma has no desire to treat with anyone outside of Gilikin. Even the raids into Munchkinland are becoming few and far between."

"Wait a minute, raids into Munchkinland?" Elphaba asked.

"Yes," Luani answered. "Even in the Vinkus, we hear rumors of bands of Gilikin soldiers crossing the border and raiding Munchkin villages, stealing food and Munchkins and carrying them back to Shiz or one of their many towns like Traum or Tenniken, and making use of them."

"Power must be established," Koiyo continued. "And the infrequency of these raids, coupled with the other evidence, proves that Ozma has become weak and unfit to rule Oz."

"How will this affect the Quadlings?" Locasta inquired.

"It won't," Koiyo stated. "I do not see any worth in the swamps. Unfit ground and no resources."

Locasta nodded her head and disappeared.

"She'll be back." Koiyo shook her head. "In the mean time, we have a terrible duty of our own. Ozma has disbanded the Royal Army, leaving only the various border patrols and personal guards as her only defense. It is likely that if any attack is made against Oz while she is ruling, she'd happily turn the other way and pretend that none of it is real, even though the enemy be knocking down her front door."

"What do you suggest?" Luani queried.

"We get rid of Ozma." Koiyo stated. "She has to be removed from power, or else she will run Oz into the ground."

"Why don't we invade?" Gianocco suggested. "Think about it! You yourself, Lady Koiyo, said that she won't retaliate or even acknowledge an invading army. If we were to form a treaty with, or at least subjugate, the Flat-heads, we could raise up a significant fighting force, one that would be able to move through the snow and besiege Shiz within the month."

"And once Shiz is in your hands," Luani interrupted. "You'll claim Gilikin as part of Ugabu. Well I don't like it! If there's to be a coup, then it will be Ozians who remove Ozma from power." Gianocco looked very offended at this.

Elphaba sat silently, listening to all of this. She was still a little miffed at their plotting, but wondered just how she fit into all of this. She was stranded here from another time, she needed to get back to the Oz she knew - if it still existed.

"We will still need power," Koiyo began. "Without a sufficient source of power, we cannot hope to overcome Ozma and her guards."

Okli stepped forward.

"Power I have," he wheezed. "And that is enough."

"Power?" Luani laughed. "You look about ready to die as it is!"

Okli only growled at the Elephant, though Elphaba saw that his eyes were glowing red as he did. This did not seem good at all.

"Chancellor," Koiyo said. "Perhaps you would be so kind as to tell us how you acquired such power. You have some skill with sorcery, but you are not as powerful as me."

"Ah," Okil returned. "But I will be. Soon, nothing will be able to stop me. Not even Lady Morrible."

Elphaba gasped.

"You think she's plotting against you in your absence?" Koiyo queried.

"I know it," Okil responded. "My secretary is smart, but very ambitious. I think she means to keep Ozma on the throne. If she gets in my way, she will have to die."

"Wait, if you've been away," Elphaba suddenly spoke up. "How do you know she's plotting against you?"

One of Okli's large but withered-looking hands went into the folds of his cloak.

"I see all things," he answered cryptically.

His hand suddenly brought out something very tiny upon which the light of the torches danced madly. It was made of gold, and looked a little too small to be in his hand.

Everyone gasped at what they saw.

"Incredible!" Gianocco exclaimed.

"Sweet Oz!" Luani added.

"Is that what I think it is?" Koiyo queried.

"Yes, old friend." Okli returned. "The Golden Mirror."

"But I thought they were destroyed! Ozma sent you to destroy them!"

"And I lied to her." the giant replied. "I only told her that I destroyed them. But all I need...is this one, the Mirror that sees all things. Soon, I will be invincible."

There was silence in their hearts. Elphaba, suddenly, began to make the connection. She was mentally slapping herself over the head for not realizing it sooner. Though he was legendary, surely nine hundred years was long enough to have passed into legend by her time. And here it was, one of the fabled Golden Wonders, sitting in his hand.

"Yes!" Koiyo returned. "And once you have come to full power, we shall overthrow Ozma and shape this land as we see fit!"

"I'll have no part of this!" Luani stated. "Now send me back!"

Koiyo lazily waved her hand, and the figure of the Elephant vanished.

"Frankly," Gianocco spoke up. "I'm not pleased of this refusal to listen to the wisdom of the Skeezers." He rose up a gloved hand. "Though I will not declare war upon you or give away the secret of this meeting to your enemies, I will observe from a distance, waiting to see who comes out victorious in the end."

"So you can pick them off at their weakest point." Koiyo stated, crossing her arms and a single eyebrow raising up in facetious surprise.

"Coward!" Okli roared.

Gianocco took out an _arquebus_, the size of his arm up to the elbow, and shot at Okli. To Elphaba's surprise, the shot hit home with a metallic ring, but the giant only took a single step back, not even realizing that he had been hit. Before she could do anything, Okli crossed the room and seized Gianocco by the throat.

"Only a coward attacks during negotiations." the giant said, his voice deepening and his eyes glowing red.

"Let him go!" Elphaba shouted.

"He needs to be taught a lesson!" the giant roared. "After all..." He turned to Gianocco. "What makes you think you're invaluable to me?" He threw the Skeezer to the floor before him. He then looked at Koiyo and Elphaba.

"At the end of two months," he said. "I will have an army of thousands, ready to die for me, and enough power to overthrow Ozma and her court. You can die standing at my side, or in my way: the choice is yours!"

With that, Okli suddenly vanished. Elphaba wanted to say something; this was all wrong. But seeing how effortlessly and remorselessly Okli almost strangled Gianocco, Elphaba decided that, for the sake of her child, she would remain silent. She felt guilty for doing it, and was once again upset that her condition imprisoned her so.

Koiyo turned to Elphaba.

"Surely you don't agree with this wanton flaunting of power!"

"What I believe," Koiyo said. "Is that Ozma needs to go. She's ruining Oz, and the sooner we do it, the better." She then turned to Elphaba. "Remember what I said - nothing."

There was a sudden flash of light.

* * *

><p><strong>(AN: Heavily borrowed info for this chapter from <em>Glinda of Oz<em>, though I don't suggest reading that. There are spoilers in it that apply to this story.)**

**(The explanation for Ozma, however, is my personal idea. It's based on _Wicked_ the book as well as the Oz-series. I thought it sounded good. The Skeezers of Ugabu are technologically superior - they have an undersea city in _Glinda of Oz_ - so they're definitely more advanced than the rest of Oz. Their look is inspired by steam-punk, as a subtle nod to the Danish and Finnish productions of _Wicked_. Furthermore, the Flat-heads are not the strange creatures from "One Short Day." Re-read _The Wonderful Wizard of Oz_, and you'll see that they fit the description of Hammer-heads instead.)**

**(Regarding Locasta, this is _not_ the same one as _LeiaEmberblaze_'s Leyen Rhoda. In her story _The Good Witch of the South_, it was stated that there was already a Locasta that was known in legend to protect the swamp. She did not appear earlier on since she didn't see Elphaba, Fiyero and Glinda as a threat.)**

**(And lastly, I refrain from calling her 'the Good Witch of the South' since, according to my timeline, the designation of sorceresses by where they live comes from the Three Adepts, though people of magical talent definitely existed before the Adepts, they just got named 'Adepts' after the fact.)**


	10. Remorse

**(AN: The times have not been good to me, it seemed. Five days without an update!)**

**(Needed a longer chapter. I know most of my chapters have been very long, but I decided that I've been dallying around too much and need to get back to the main event. So I've rushed things along in this chapter. Hope you enjoy it)**

**(Also, I have a little bit of a timeline of _Wicked_ events. May 17th is important because that was when _The Wonderful Wizard of Oz_ was first published in 1900. I don't own _LotR_, those belong to Tolkien. I've tried to shy away from having dozens of references to my other works in this _Ozian Adventures_ series, but it's a bit inevitable. A few loose ends get tied up and I hope you like my explanation for things.)**

**(Now enjoy our new chapter)**

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><p><strong>Remorse<strong>

Elphaba suddenly appeared back in her own room.

She made her way to Fiyero's room as fast as she could. Throwing all caution to the wind, she ran through the hallways, heedless if she passed any guards while she ran. Fortunately the only person she passed was an old servant who was looking the other way, and deaf at that. She threw open the door and almost tackled Fiyero down with a hug. She didn't care if she could not talk about their 'little meeting', and it didn't matter if Koiyo would make good on her promise and turn her into a fish. This threatened their lives and, after all, they were the strangers in this past.

"Overthrow the Ozma?" Fiyero replied incredulously. Elphaba quickly threw her hand over his mouth.

"Shh!" she hissed. "We're still not safe to speak."

A muffled "Sorry" came from beneath Elphaba's hand, and she released her grip.

"Well," he continued. "What are we going to do? We can't get stuck in a political revolution, especially since we don't belong here in the first place!"

"I know, I know!" Elphaba returned. "I'll have to look through the Grimmerie and try to find the spell to get us back to our time." She began frantically searching the room, hoping that they hadn't taken the Grimmerie from Glinda by this time. After several minutes of searching, she breathed a sigh of relief, the huge tome in her hands.

"Are you sure we can trust that?" Fiyero asked. "I mean, after all, the last time you used that, I ended up as a scarecrow."

"It's our only chance!" Even though hormonal to a great degree, Elphaba was under control, if only for this very minute. She was doing something, she was ready to get them home. It felt good to be in control again.

"But what about Glinda?"

"I'll fill her in the next time I see her." was Elphaba's reply.

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><p>But neither Elphaba nor Fiyero saw much more of Glinda after that night. The two lovers parted, and Fiyero fell asleep slowly. In the morning, he was alone again. He desired to go looking for Elphaba, but she had the map. Even more so, though he knew Ozma Towers, he did not know where in this palace she was being kept. So he remained in his room, annoyed that he could be with her. Late that evening, Glinda finally showed up, dragging her feet into the room and looking very worn out. As soon as she touched the bed, she fell asleep.<p>

Fiyero never got to tell her about their plan.

This sudden and lengthy absence of Glinda happened periodically over the next week or two. Eventually, Fiyero and Elphaba now had more time to themselves. She showed him the map, despite his protests that he knew his way around Ozma Towers blind-folded. He was now spending more and more time with Elphaba in her room, since his room was so often empty and Glinda only showed up to fall asleep there, dead tired.

One night, however, while Fiyero emerged from the tunnel into their room, there was a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" he asked.

"It's me." Glinda's voice came from the other end. "Can I come in?"

He walked over to the door and opened it. He leaned on one foot, flashing his _oh-so-scandalacious_ smile at her. She was wearing a new dress, one that looked almost like the bubble dress she wore that day at Center Munch, when he swung in to save Elphaba from the Gale Force.

"Well, hello there, stranger." he said with a smile.

"Very funny, Fifi." she returned, walking past him into the room.

"You still insist on calling me that?"

"You still insist on wearing that hideoucious beard?"

"What's wrong with the beard?"

"You look so old! I like the young you, Fiyero. And I will keep calling you Fifi until you shave it off."

He rolled his eyes.

"What exactly have you been busy with?" he asked.

"Oh, Ozma made me her personal minister of propagandament." she said, sighing. "It's the Wizard all over again."

"You need to stand up for yourself."

"That's easy for you to say, Fifi, when you're a nobody in their eyes. But Ozma can still do whatever she wants to us..."

"Even so," Fiyero began. "Elphaba's thinking that we've been here too long. We need to get moving."

"Moving where?" Glinda asked. "We don't know how to get back to our own world!"

"Elphaba's trying to find the right spell in that book of hers," he stated. "I guess its only a matter of time until she finds something."

"What do you want me to do?" she asked.

"Wait until she finds something." was all that Fiyero could answer.

* * *

><p>Waiting seemed about all they could do. As usual, it seemed as though the Grimmerie had a mind of its own and tried to keep Elphaba from discovering its full secrets. The weeks lagged on, and Glinda's frequent disappearances to work for the Ozma meant that Elphaba and Fiyero had much more time to themselves together. Though, obviously, this time was spent with Fiyero studying the map and Elphaba studying the Grimmerie.<p>

And so a week turned into two weeks, and then two weeks became three, and before long, they were nearing the end of two months. Elphaba went about her research of the Grimmerie with renewed vigor, refusing to leave her room - though her condition made leaving quite a trial - and spending hours, sometimes long into the night, reading the book and making as many notes as she could.

One such night, Elphaba was up again, the light of a small candle giving her small illumination for her research. Though the white words on the pages of the Grimmerie glowed, the candle was still welcome.

"Any luck?" Fiyero asked, for what must have been the hundredth time.

"If there were any, Yero," Elphaba returned, not even lifting her eyes from the pages. "I would have told you."

"Well, you've been at that book for two months." he said. "You must have found something!"

"It's not like that!" she replied with annoyance in her voice. "As soon as something clears up, it becomes hazy again. And-And if I write it down, the same phrase might not even be on the same page, or might not mean the same thing! It could rearrange itself into gibberish or make something even worse!"

Fiyero sighed. Not again! He had said something wrong and he was going to pay for it, so it seemed.

"What about you?" she returned, with just a hint of spite in her voice. "Any luck with the map?"

Might as well oblige her, Fiyero thought. Wouldn't hurt.

"A little," he returned aloud. "It's definitely Ozma Towers, though there's a lot on this map that I don't remember from Shiz. I don't know, it was a while ago. How long ago was it?"

"I don't remember much about dates, Yero." Elphaba said. "I wasn't exactly checking in at the Clock of the Time Dragon every two seconds while I was on the run." There was a moment of pause, as Elphaba shoved her notes into the pages of the Grimmerie before closing it. "I wonder just how much time has passed."

"I think," Fiyero said. "I remember it was the 13th of May when Glinda proposed to me." He chuckled. "That 'surprise' engagement party."

"I wonder how long it took for the news to reach Munchkinland." Elphaba said. "I recall Boq saying something about a ball announcing your engagement."

"I remember four days on the Yellow Brick Road with..." He stopped in mid-sentence, not wishing to continue and speak the name of Dorothy.

"You know," Elphaba said. "You should really tell me what happened when we parted."

"Maybe later," Fiyero brushed off. "So then it was the 17th when we met again?"

"Yes," Elphaba returned. "I came to Colwen Grounds early that day, looking for Nessarose." She sighed, looking with her eyes downcast.

"What's wrong, Fae?"

"Do you ever have regret, Yero?"

"Oh, all the time." he returned. "I just try not to talk about it."

"What kind of regret?"

"I regret wasting time that should have been spent with you." Fiyero answered. A blue-purple shade of embarrassment fell upon Elphaba's face. "I regret not telling Glinda straight off about us. I regret making you wait for me, for wasting my youth being such a stupid little...uh, fool." Elphaba nodded.

"What about you?"

"I regret having never known my mother." she returned. "She died when I was three. It was my worst memory."

"What was?"

"My first memory was of someone screaming." Elphaba began. "I remember running towards the sound, around servants who were very afraid of me, though I didn't know why. I ran into this room, everyone was too busy with something that they didn't see me. There was a woman, beautiful, with long red-brown hair: she was in pain.

"I could hear a Munchkin-woman cry 'It's too soon!' while another voice was begging, praying, saying something. They finally pulled something out, covered in blood, with a pair of twisted...malformed legs." She sniffed back a sob, wiping her face with her fingers. "It was my sister. But the woman didn't move, she didn't scream, she never woke up. Then I heard the other voice - father's voice - crying out in sadness, frustration. Then he looked at me and it was anger. He blamed me for it, struck me, then beat me all the way back to the broom closet."

Fiyero walked over to Elphaba's side, placing his arm around her shoulder.

"Oh, Fae." Fiyero said sympathetically. "I didn't know. I-I'm so sorry."

"I told Glinda about it once," Elphaba said, turning to Fiyero. "But you deserve to know. There'll be no more secrets between us, Yero. I love you, and I want this baby..." She placed her hand on her stomach. "...to live in a better family than I did."

"Hey, don't worry, Fae." Fiyero said, placing his hand under her chin. "Boy or girl, I'll still love it."

"Even if it's green?" Elphaba asked.

That thought had never crossed his mind. Could their child be green?

"Yes," he added. "Even if it's green."

A single tear fell down Elphaba's face as she threw her arms around Fiyero's shoulders.

"Oh, Yero!" she sobbed happily. "You don't know how that makes me feel."

"Whoa, steady on." Fiyero said. "I've never seen you like this before."

She sighed, wiping her eyes and releasing Fiyero.

"I don't know," she said. "Maybe its this whole being pregnant thing. I don't know, I've never been pregnant before."

Fiyero nodded. That was one thing they would need help from, when the time came. Hopefully it would not be too soon, though seven months, it seemed, had flown by so fast. And speaking of time...

"So, back to the time thing," Fiyero said. "Where were we again?"

"Oh, yes." she said. "One other thing is that I regret not having done more for Nessa. I got to Colwen Grounds on what you say was the 17th of May."

"Yes," he continued. "That was when the ball was held."

"Going by broom is a lot faster than walking," Elphaba stated. "So I was there, then you and I...well, we uh..."

"Made out?"

"I guess, that night. Then on the morning...Nessa was dead. I left her all alone, and that damn Dorothy killed her with her house!"

"I'm sorry."

"No, it's nothing. I just should have been there."

"Well," Fiyero continued. "When I got there, to Center Munch, the Gale Force had already reached it first. They must have gone on all through the night."

"Like I did."

"And like I did when I was following you."

"Then what?" Elphaba asked. "I lost all sense of time after you 'died.'"

"Well," Fiyero said. "Dorothy said something about staying the night with a Munchkin before she found me. So a day, at the least, had passed since she arrived. Uh, I remember Boq and I stood guard around her and the dog the night after you showed up." He then looked at her. "Did you really have to throw fire at me?"

"What? When?"

"You don't remember?" he said. "You popped on top of that house and threw fire at me."

"Oh, that." Elphaba laughed a little awkwardly. "I don't remember much of what happened. I must have been going insane, just lashing out at everything. I didn't mean to hurt you, I was just so angry, so sad, so fed up with everything!"

Fiyero mumbled something, then returned. "Once we got the Lion, we spent all day crossing the river, then had to rest from the rain in a farm-house."

"I was watching you then." Elphaba said mischievously.

"Okay," Fiyero returned. "After that, it was a more or less straight shot to the Emerald City...right through a field of poppies."

Elphaba cackled. "Poppies."

"You know," Fiyero said. "Boq said that it was your doing."

"Me?" she cackled again, though out of amusement than a desire to scare Fiyero. "Well, I recall flying over the Pine Barrens dozens of times, and I definitely remember the poppy-field before Dorothy showed up. I think those are a special kind of poppies native only to Oz, they're rather poisonous if eaten, and their smell can put you to sleep."

"Well," Fiyero said. "Luckily Boq and I weren't 'human' anymore, so we weren't harmed by it." He chuckled, and Elphaba joined in with him. It was fun, reminiscing about 'the old times.' "Then once we reached the Emerald City, we spent the rest of the day there, then went out into the Vinkus, looking for you."

"Four days after Nessa died." Elphaba commented.

"That night," Fiyero said. "We were on the outskirts of the Emerald City when a rowdy bunch of peasants followed after us, being goaded on by Boq and Madam Morrible. We didn't sleep the rest of the night or day, so I guess it was the fifth day when we crossed the Vinkus River. That's when you sicked the Monkeys on us."

"That evening," Elphaba added. "Glinda came to me later in Kiamo Ko and told me they were coming for me. I guess that was when I orchestrated my 'death.' I had to stay in one of the dank tunnels all night until they left."

"Chistery and the Monkeys flew us back to the Emerald City." Fiyero said. "Then we found the Wizard out, and it was three days until he left in his balloon. I guess it was another three days after that for me to finally get back to Kiamo Ko. I had to arrange for a successor in my stead."

"For what?"

"The Wizard put me in charge of Oz," Fiyero said. "But I didn't want it, so I spoke to Glinda once Dorothy left. She said that she was in charge of Oz now, and set me free. That's when I went looking for you."

"What did you tell her? Did she suspect?"

"I said that I wasn't the sort to be ruling Oz," Fiyero said. "Just as plain as that. Said that I'd rather use my brains to philosophize with Bo...the Tin Man, about which is better: brains or heart."

Elphaba laughed. "What a silly thing to philosophize over! It's obvious that brains are better."

"That's what I think!" Fiyero stated.

"And she believed that?"

"This is Glinda, dear." Fiyero commented. "She let me go, and then three days later...I found you."

"Eleven days, then." Elphaba said. "Five from Nessa's death to mine, three days until the Wizard left and then three days until we were united again. Oz, no wonder I thought you didn't make it if I had to wait almost a week before I saw you!"

"You got my letter, right?" Fiyero returned. "I kept it on my person, hoping that when the Monkeys took me apart, they'd find it and bring it back to you."

"They did." Elphaba returned.

"So eleven days." Fiyero stated. "That would make it..."

"May 29th." Elphaba said. "That's when we left Oz. But I recall something about October 24th when Frodo woke up in Rivendell."

"So we jumped through time," Fiyero said. "It's quite possible!" He waved his hands about him. True enough, they were far back in time from what they knew.

"I remember the King was crowned on May 1st," she added. "Two months after we, well, you know..."

"Then a month in Midgard, I guess." Fiyero said at last.

"That brings us to three months at Quadling." Elphaba said. "Four months from there to here."

"So...October?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Elphaba said, returning to the book.

"Wow," he said. "Strange how time flies on you."

"Yeah." Elphaba added. She took one look at the Grimmerie, then fell backward onto the bed.

"Hey!" Fiyero turned to his beloved green woman. "You might hurt the baby!"

"I'm fine, Fiyero!" she returned, using his full name.

"Are you? You know, you've been acting a little on edge lately, don't think I haven't noticed."

"Why shouldn't I be?" Elphaba snapped. "We've almost reached the two months and we're nowhere near getting ready!"

"Hey, hey!" Fiyero said, seeing that Elphaba was starting to get hysterical. "Don't worry! I'll talk to Glinda and we'll leave tonight."

"What? But we're not ready!"

"You're stressing over this Chancellor deadline thing," Fiyero stated. "If we can get you out of Shiz for a while, maybe you'll be able to think clearly, huh? Besides, if Shiz is going to hit the ceiling soon, we might as well be out of the thick of it. After all, this isn't our war."

Elphaba had heard those words before. But as much as she knew that to just turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to this war was perhaps the best decision - being that they were in the past and anything they did might have an impact on the future - Elphaba Thropp felt tortured at the thought of sitting idly by and doing nothing while people were about to be hurt.

"But what about Glinda?" she asked.

"I'm gonna go find her right now," Fiyero said, getting up off the bed. "Then we're leaving tonight. I've been sitting here idle for too long also."

"But you don't know where she is!" Elphaba returned. "Not to mention what the guards will do to you! Please, Yero, just stop and think about this first!"

"Never do!" Fiyero said, with a confident smirk upon his face. He picked up the heavy coat that they had been given by Captain Tenmeadows and threw his over his shoulders. "May as well bring this," he said. "It'll be cold outside these walls."

"Fiyero, wait!"

But he didn't wait. He was already out the door before Elphaba could cry out his name in desperation. Elphaba walked over to the Grimmerie, then realized just how ready she really was. All of her things were back in her room, especially her own coat, and she had to be there before she was missed.

She pulled open the door, walked out into the hallway to follow after Fiyero, and suddenly stopped. Her magic was suddenly at hand. She could sense a powerful fluctuation in the flow of magic - like screams in the midnight air. Nature was being tortured, bent and molded to a will other than its own. Something very terrible was going on even as she sat here idly. The walls of the hall suddenly looked very dark and threatening. Looking this way and that, she saw a haze of light glowing in the direction that the fluctuations were emanating.

Elphaba walked down the hallway as fast as she could, following the ripples of power. She could not go much faster because of her condition, but, to her mind, it seemed that, even as fast as she was going, she was not going fast enough. The hallways around her looked like a shadow of a blur, and nothing that inhabited therein that she passed on her way through could keep her.

She found her world suddenly coming back into focus. She was in front of a huge wall of stone that served as the side of another long hallway.

This couldn't be! There had been a door here, she knew there had been one because Koiyo and her had walked through it. Could it have been walled up so soon between then and now? Yet even so, the golden glow was right in front of her, taunting her, leading her into the wall.

She held her hands together and began to chant the fire-spell. It had been a while and she feared that she had forgotten the words. But the brilliant plume of flame blossomed into her hand easily and she threw it at the wall. Perhaps if she could get her fire hot enough, she could burn through the mortar and make it easier to break down.

But the fire-ball went straight through the wall, leaving no sign of having burned it. It did not look as if it had even touched the wall. What was this sorcery that was raised against her? She walked over to the wall and placed her hand upon it.

And watched with awe as it vanished through the wall. As if the wall were made of nothing.

* * *

><p>Fiyero was now running through the hall, looking for Glinda. He had no idea where she would be, nor could she know that he was looking for her. He was now at top speed, not caring who he bumped into. He tripped and fell forward onto a very small person.<p>

Pushing himself up, he saw that it was a Munchkin-woman.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Fiyero said, pushing himself up.

"Watch where you're running, wild man!" she returned. "This ain't the Winkie outback, you know." She looked up and then pushed herself back onto her feet. "You're the wild man who sleeps in the Lady Glinda's room."

"How do you know?" Fiyero returned.

The Munchkin-woman scoffed. "There aren't any other Winkies at court, you know. Besides, did you and Aelphaba really think you were that clever? Sneaking in and out of your rooms like that, and you thought nobody would find out."

"Wait," he lowered his voice. "You-You know?"

"Don't act so surprised," the woman returned. "I'm only assigned to the Lady Aelphaba as her maid, why shouldn't I know?"

"But who else knows?"

"Just the four of us." she returned. "You, Aelphaba, her pretty friend the saint and Daisy, that's me."

"Wait, wait, saint?"

"Oh, Glinda." Daisy continued. "She's a right fine beauty, that one. Now Ozma's got her giving speeches and making public appearances."

"Where is she now?"

"I think she said something about takin' a break." Daisy said.

"Where is she, though?"

"Why do you want to know?"

Fiyero wanted to say that he couldn't tell her, but she knew about them. If she told Ozma, then their entire escape plan would be foiled. Or worse, she might just imprison them for leaving without her word.

He sighed. This would complicate things even more, and he hated when things got complicated.

"We're leaving Shiz," he said. "I have to know where she is."

To Fiyero's surprise, Daisy grabbed his hand.

"This way!" she shouted, running off down the hall with Fiyero's hand still held tightly in her own.

* * *

><p>The wall had been fake. She passed her hand through it with ease as if it were nothing, and so found the secret tunnel down into the Tomb of the Ozmas. In the lower-most room, she found one of the crypts had been broken into. The remains of whatever Ozma that had been interred there were now dust, scattered about the floor. But just where there should have been a back wall, Elphaba saw that there was another reason the crypt had been broken into.<p>

The sarcophagus was empty and broken, and at its bottom was another tunnel that led even deeper into the earth. Elphaba walked over to its mouth and saw, in the dim light of the flickering torches, that it was wide enough for a giant to squeeze through, but more than wide enough for pregnant Elphaba Thropp to climb down without fear of injury.

She was definitely more aware of herself now that she had a seven pound baby in her body to worry about as well. She had to crawl in feet first, leaning back so that, if she fell or tripped, she would fall backwards onto her back rather than forward onto her belly.

There would be no knowing what would befall her, since there was no light in this tunnel. She muttered the words and a ball of fire appeared in her hand.

Having done so, she slid through the tunnel and came to a staggered stand at the bottom. She saw that this tunnel, unlike the other one, was more of a cave that led deep into the heart of the earth. She had heard the legends about Nomes, creatures of the earth that live where no light can be seen and harbor no love for the things of the surface. As a child, those things seemed rather silly, since nobody had really seen a Nome in her time. But now, nine hundred years in the past, and Oz knows how many feet below ground, she feared to find herself surrounded by Nomes, angry at this intrusion from a surface-dweller.

With the fire cupped in her hand, Elphaba began walking down into the cave tunnel. So far it hurried on straight, though she guessed that it turned up ahead, and sloped downward. It wound to the left, making a sharp turn-around back the way it had come, only still going down, before it made another sharp turn to the right, sending her back on the straight path. Only here she began to notice something new in this tunnel.

_Light._

There was a glow down at the end of the tunnel. She could now see without the light of her fire and extinguished it. With both hope and dread in her heart, she made the final steps down the tunnel. Just then she noticed another thing that was making her heart race, the hair on the back of her neck stand up on end and sweat to drip down her forehead.

She could feel no magic.

At the bottom of the tunnel, she found a wide room with a high ceiling. The glowing, she saw, came from the armor worn by a very old looking creature that sat with head bowed at the center of the room.

Elphaba gasped, and the sound echoed off every stone, reverberating throughout the whole cavern. There would be no surprise now.

The creature in the middle of the room looked nothing like Okli. The hair on its head was all gone, leaving only the shriveled remains of his beard, now white and scraggly. Upon his head was a helmet of gold, a breastplate of gold was upon his chest, a cape of golden thread upon his shoulders, a belt of gold girt about his loins, and in his hand was a giant sword that gleamed of gold. Despite his shimmering appearance, there was not much threat this giant could cause. If Elphaba thought he looked sickly before, he looked in perfect health then compared to this.

"Chancellor?" she whispered, slowly closing the distance.

The soft, ragged breathing of an old giant hissed as she walked closer.

"P-Please, Elphaba!" he wheezed. "Get away from me! Stand back!"

"What's wrong, Chancellor?" she asked, standing still where she was at.

"I..." he began, but did not finish. Elphaba looked at him and shivered with revulsion. His very face looked raw and eaten away, as if his living flesh was already decomposing like one of the dead.

Okil gasped, as if fighting for air. She ran over to his side and, despite his feeble and vain attempts to push her away, tried to help him. She only touched the armor, for his skin was hideous to behold. But even more so, she felt a great emptiness the closer she got to him.

Like a hole in existence was opening directly where he was sitting.

He turned his weary, gold-helmed face to her, and Elphaba saw that his eyes were now glowing red.

"Forgive me." he whispered. A hideous rattle escaped his lips and he fell forward, onto the stone floor of the room.

Dead.

Elphaba suddenly was assaulted by a sea of color and sound, so mesmerizing and overwhelming that it turned all else around her to darkness. She felt her head spinning. She thought that the magic was coming back to her, but she still felt the emptiness as before. Suddenly she was engulfed in the darkness.

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><p><strong>(AN: I need more cliffhangers! Maybe this will keep you coming back for more!)<strong>

**(So, what did you think of all the stuff I've put herein? Any thoughts, questions, ideas? Please say so in your reviews!)**

**(Hopefully a new chapter will be forth-coming soon.)**


	11. Escape from Shiz

**(AN: A much shorter chapter than the last one, but stuff is starting to happen [the Shiz is hitting the roof! lol])**

**(So far, I don't know who's been following this since no reviews have been posted for five days. But in case you fear, then let me tell you not to fear. Koiyo will definitely appear before the end.)**

**(Now enjoy the escape scene!)**

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><p><strong>Escape from Shiz<strong>

_Elphaba woke up to find her hands covered with blood. The first thought that came to her mind was panic. The baby had been born too early, or it had died! Something was going wrong. She looked down and noticed that she was not as she once was. Below she found herself dressed in heavy armor, like nothing she had ever seen before, with no sign that she had ever been pregnant._

_In fact, there was no sign that she was even a woman._

_Looking around, she noticed that she was higher up off the ground than before. She tried to speak, but no words came out of her mouth. She saw the endless snow-drifts before her, painted black with soot from the nearby forests, which were burning, were littered with huge bodies of man, woman and child._

_"You've done well, General." a voice said. Turning around, she saw a short woman wearing the purple colors of the Ozma's soldiers. She obviously addressed him as general, but what was this? She was never a general, she had never killed these people. She had never even seen these people._

_What had she happened upon?_

_The scene shifted and she found herself in a great study in Ozma Towers, filled with books upon books. A large one, called_ Ancient Magick _was in her hands. Just then, the door opened and a woman with auburn hair and a sharp, cod-like face entered the room._

_"Elvira!" a voice spoke. Elphaba noticed that it was coming from her own lips, but it was not her voice. "What have I told you about disrupting me during my study time?"_

_"Your pardon, Lord Chancellor," the woman said. "But the Ozma requests an audience with you."_

_"What for?"_

_"She didn't say, although she did say that it is private."_

_She sighed, though it was neither Elphaba nor Elvira Morrible who was sighing. "I must speak with her then."_

_Once again the scene changed, and she found herself standing before the huge, frog-like Ozma once again._

_"Your Majesty, are you certain?"_

_"I have made certain myself." Ozma said again._

_"What do you propose we do?"_

_"Destroy them." Ozma returned nonchalantly._

_"But, Your Majesty, that would be a great waste! Think of the power we would possess! We could make Oz the apple of Lurline's eye, the greatest of all the lands! It would do no..."_

_"Okli, my old friend," Ozma said. Elphaba was surprised at how sincere this shallow biddy was speaking to her - or, rather, to him. "I trust you in all things, that is why I trust you and you alone to this task: find and destroy all of the Wonders. If half of the rumors about them are true, then no one should possess that kind of power...not even me."_

A thousand new images flowed through her mind, so much that Elphaba's senses were starting to numb. But now the images were gone, and a new light brought her back to the waking world.

It was black, like a hole in the world, where neither magic nor air existed. Elphaba felt herself being drawn towards it against her will. It was like falling. That black hole was now the center of gravity and all things were falling towards it.

The golden armor flew off Okli's old, decrepit body, coming to rest around the black hole like it was upon an invisible body. There was a rush of sand all around Elphaba, all of it swirling toward the black hole. The tiny grains came together as large pieces of clear crystal, shining prysmatically with every kind of light in this room.

A new being was formed from the crystal and armor, a being that was neither dead nor living. Within Elphaba a new feeling rose, one of fear. Another urge then fel upon her.

_Run._

* * *

><p>Fiyero and Daisy broke into the throne room, expecting to have to face a sea of guards and courtiers, not to mention Ozma's wrath, alone. Instead, they found Glinda all on her own, sitting on a very small, humble seat to the left of the great throne. When she heard the doors slam open, she jumped to her feet with a start.<p>

"Fifi!" she said. "I didn't expect you to be here!"

"Fifi?" queried Daisy.

"What are you doing here?" Fiyero asked. "I thought you were taking a break. Where's Ozma?"

"She's having a party with her repertoire outside under a canopy," Glinda said. "That's why the throne room is empty. I needed to stay here for a bit."

"Well, we're leaving." Fiyero stated quite plainly. "So come on, we're off to find El..." He paused, catching his breath for a moment, before realizing that the name of 'Elphaba' was not to be used while in this time. "Aelphaba. We've got to find her."

"What about Nessa?"

"Who's Nessa?" Daisy queried.

"She's our horse," Glinda said. "They took her from us when we were first brought here."

"What's a horse?"

"Like a unicorn," Fiyero stated. "But without a horn."

"You know," Daisy said. "I remember hearing some of the servants talk about such a creature. Put up a fight once it got into the stables, but now its quiet as a mouse - too quiet, actually. Some say its pining for its funeral."

"Can you get her ready for us?" Fiyero asked.

"I can certainly try." Daisy said. "Where shall I meet you with this horse?"

"I don't know!" Fiyero shouted. He had forgotten some of the outer locations on the map.

"Here!" Glinda added.

"Okay, here then." Daisy said. She then shot off as fast as her feet could carry her.

"So where's Elphie?" Glinda asked, once Daisy was gone. "Shouldn't she be with you?"

"I think she's still back in the room! C'mon!" Fiyero led the way and Glinda ran after him as they tried to find their way back to their room.

They were not half-way down the second corridor from the throne room when the earth began to tremble and shake. Fiyero and Glinda almost jumped towards the walls, gripping onto the iron candle-holders, window-ledges or anything that felt secure.

"What the Frottica was that?" Glinda asked, fear clutching to her words.

"Never heard of earthquakes in Oz before." Fiyero stated. "Then again, who's ever heard of cyclones or snow-storms either?"

The two slowly made their way down the hallway, keeping to the walls all the way. The shaking did not subside, and things were starting to slide and shift about violently. Guards were running down the hallway, shouting in fear. They did not even attempt to stop them, all caution now thrown to the wind.

Fiyero and Glinda came to Elphaba's room, discovering the door wide open. Inside they saw the Grimmerie, but no Elphaba.

"Where is she?" Glinda queried.

"I don't know!" Fiyero returned, sounding a little nervous now. He ran over to the wardrobe and took out her Ozian clothes, which he threw onto her bed. He then took the Grimmerie and placed it with the clothes. From out of the bed, he pulled one of the sheets off and wrapped it around the clothes and the book. This he then slung over his back and turned toward the exit.

"Yero!" a voice shouted.

"Fae?"

From the other end of the hall Elphaba came running. Or, rather, she was running as fast as she could while trying to keep balance with a huge belly and the ground beneath her shaking vehemently. One hand was on the side of the wall, struggling to keep hold on something that was a little bit stable, while the other sat upon her side.

Without another word, Fiyero ran down the hall and walked over to Elphaba's side. Her lips were shaking with fear and a look of dread horror was upon her eyes. Glinda, fearing the worst, ran over to where the two were standing.

"Elphie!" she cried out over the roar of the shaking earth. "What's the matter? Is it time?"

"Have to...keep moving!" Elphaba gasped. "He's coming for us!"

"Wait, who's coming?" Fiyero asked.

"We can't stay here!" she shouted, her voice filled with desperation and fear.

"Can you move?" he asked again. "Are you...well, you know..."

"I'm just tired, Yero!" she grunted. "You try running for your life with a baby in you who suddenly feels compelled to start moving around!" With a groan of frustration, she continued on down the hall, with Fiyero and Glinda keeping pace with her.

"Where are we going?" Elphaba asked.

"The throne room!" Glinda gasped. "We're getting out of here!"

The trio were back in the throne room, the two supporting Elphaba between them. She was now panting and bent over as much as her condition permitted.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Fiyero asked. "You know, when I saw you back there, I feared..."

"I was exhausted, okay?" Elphaba shouted. "Can't I be exhausted after running for my life?"

Glinda gasped. "What's wrong, Elphie? What were you running from?"

"The Chancellor," she sighed, her breath returning to her. "Something's happened to him. We gotta leave now!"

"Alright, just as soon as Daisy shows up with Nessa." Fiyero replied.

"Daisy?" Elphaba queried.

A pair of doors flung open, and a loud neighing echoed through the hall.

"Nessa!" Elphaba cried. The horse reared up on her hind legs, neighing wildly. Behind, Daisy walked with a large unicorn-pony with a gray coat and white mane.

"Are we ready to leave yet?" Daisy asked.

"We?" Elphaba returned. "You're coming with us?"

"This earth-quake is a sign!" Daisy shouted. "Ozma has angered the Elements! I'm not staying in Shiz a moment longer."

"Where will you go?" Elphaba asked.

"Back home!" Daisy returned. "I haven't lived here too long to have forgotten Munchkinland, the place where I was born, the place where I lived - before those tall bastards took me into slavery!"

"We'll go with you!" Glinda said.

"What?" both Fiyero and Elphaba queried in disbelief.

"We don't have time for this!" Elphaba shouted. "Let's just go!"

Elphaba walked over to Nessa and Fiyero and Glinda ran to her side to attempt to help her up.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Daisy cried, waving her finger at them while she walked over to the giant horse. "This wild mare is not suitable for a mother-to-be. Here!" She took Elphaba's hand and led her over to the unicorn-pony. "Bfan is much older, much wiser. She'll keep you safe."

"Nessa's never let me down! We're inseparable!" Fiyero and Glinda noticed that tears were silently winding their ways down Elphaba's emerald cheeks.

"I insist, you big, tall, string-bean!" Daisy shouted, her patience wearing thin as the whole of the palace lurched about them and these three young people were arguing about their mounts.

Elphaba sighed, rolling her eyes, and then walked over to the gray Bfan. Fiyero and Glinda helped her mount up, and Daisy jumped up behind Elphaba, clinging to her shoulders. Meanwhile, Fiyero leapt onto Nessa's back, the horse stirring beneath him as the tremors increased. Glinda slowly brought herself onto Nessa behind Fiyero, the bag of supplies that Fiyero brought with them stuffed between her and Fiyero.

"Hyah!" Fiyero shouted. Nessa gave a snort and shot off for the door.

"Giddy-yup!" Daisy shouted. Bfan galloped after Nessa. Though much older than Nessa, by far, the unicorn-pony ran with strength in each step, and great speed. One could easily imagine, while sitting atop Bfan's back, that there was no chance in Oz that she would let you fall.

The two galloped out of Ozma Towers, down the streets of the city of Shiz, making their way toward the gates. October was a snowy month - like Gilikin had anything but snow - and they feared that this would impede them in their flight. It did not seem to matter, for they continued off at break-neck speed, Nessa snorting and neighing as she galloped hard through the drifts of snow.

They did not look back as they rode onward.

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><p><strong>(AN: Please review!)<strong>

**(In other words, I hope you've realized where I'm going with this. I've dropped enough hints that I think I shouldn't have to just say it out loud what's happening. If not, you'll find out...eventually)**

**(Is everybody still in character?)**


	12. The Road to Munchkinland

**(AN: As far as I'm concerned, Elphaba from the book is truly evil. She is "an unholy curse from the Beast we call 'the Desolate One', 'the First of the Fallen', 'the Spoiler of Virgins' and 'the Master of Abortions!'" Lol, that was just a quote from _Clerks 2_ because I felt like it. So, yeah, I doubt I'm going to do much when it comes to the book of _Wicked_.)**

**(The musical, however, I'm _still_ gaga about, even though it's been almost three years! Next month I'll be celebrating my third, annual _Wicked Day_ with something special!)**

**(The name of this chapter, of course, is influenced by another 'The Road to...' chapter I posted in another story.)  
><strong>

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><p><strong>The Road to Munchkinland<strong>

The two creatures - the dwarf-unicorn Bfan and Nessa the horse - galloped hard through the deep drifts of snow. It mattered not that their riders knew not where they were going, they just knew that they had to get as far away from Shiz as they could. The cold did not bother them, for they were dressed warmly in the cloaks that they had been given before.

There was no sun, just gray, mirthless clouds overhead that threatened to bring down a blizzard. They had little with which to guide them. The rumblings from Shiz echoed behind them, getting more and more faint with every yard they overtook. They dared not even look behind them: the look on Elphaba's face while she spoke of whatever horrors sent her running from it for her life was enough to unnerve them and keep them running until they were certain of some sort of safety.

But safety was far from them.

They continued riding, the snow flying up in white clouds about the hooves of their animals. Suddenly, Nessa gave a loud cry and fell to the ground. Fiyero and Glinda were thrown off her back and into the white, powdery snow about them. Elphaba called for Bfan to stop and almost jumped off its back.

"See?" Daisy commented. "Old Nanny Fromica knows what she's talking about! Give a sturdy old mare the duty of bearing a pregnant mother, not a wild thing who'll throw you off at the first sign of danger."

"Glinda? Yero?" Elphaba cried, running over to her lover first and then to Glinda. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Fiyero groaned. "I just hit the snow. It's surprisingly soft. Good thing yo..."

Elphaba immediately threw her arms over Fiyero's mouth. She then checked herself, making sure that she was completely covered and that no snow was upon her. She had to keep up the illusion that she was deathly allergic to water in any form, even snow.

But she had another concern on her mind.

"Nessa!" she ran over to the horse, lying on its side and neighing furiously. "Shh! Nessa, what's wrong?"

"What happened?" Glinda asked, pulling herself up out of the snow.

"The wild thing is tired." Daisy said, joining them. "We were fleeing quite quickly through the high drifts of snow." She looked at the horse's legs. "It's a wonder she hasn't broken any bones."

Fiyero was not convinced. He had seen Nessa gallop for a whole day on the journey from Worms to the Glittering Heath, only stopping for rest when they themselves slept for the night. Something else made Nessa this weak, some outside force. It had to be the answer, for she never wearied this easily in their memory.

He got up and began examining their tracks. There had to be something that caused this. So far, there were no signs that appeared through the snow. If there was anything that caused her to suddenly fail them, it had to be right beneath the snow.

Just then, he saw something that took his breath away. There was a small patch of snow that looked black, like it had been burned with fire. But that made no sense. Four months in this Oz had proven that snow melted when it came around fire. So how could snow burn and yet remain whole and unmelted? He inched a bit closer and reached one wary hand out to the blackened snow.

From where they sat, Elphaba heard a loud groan of pain coming from Fiyero.

"Yero!" she shouted. "What's wrong?" She ran over to where she heard the noise, and found Fiyero lying in the snow, his face bloodied and bruised. Her hands were shaking: there was no sign of an attacker, and anyone who had suddenly attacked them would have been heard. This was some kind of magic, a dark, fel magic that could create wounds without swords or guns.

"What's happening to him?" Glinda queried, her voice rising in fear.

"I don't know!" Elphaba returned. She was kneeling at Fiyero's side, her hands frozen with the cold of the wind and with fear.

"Here, let me." Glinda said. "I know a little healing magic." She knelt down at Fiyero's side and began muttering beneath her breath, waving her hands over Fiyero's body. Suddenly, she gave a cry.

"What's wrong, Glinda?"

"I-I don't know, Elphie!" she cried. "I can't do it!"

"What do you mean you can't do it?"

"I can't feel the magic."

"Here, let me." Elphaba pushed Glinda aside and tried to recall some of the healing spells she had used on herself during her days as a fugitive when medical help was nonexistent. Glinda was still new to this whole magic thing, and it might be beyond her skill.

Elphaba gasped, looking down at her hands in fear. There was no magic. It was not choking her out, within reach or just beyond her grasp: it was not there. The empty hole that she felt deep beneath Ozma Towers was now emanating from...

She wrapped her hands in the sleeves of her jacket and began pawing at the patch of black snow. Though she did not hold with 'when something goes wrong, start with what's out of place', since that was often used by the people of Oz as a proverb against her, the unassuming black snow sent chills down her spine. As she cleared it out, she suddenly felt something hard against her finger-tips. Brushing the last bits of snow aside, she found a small, innocuous-looking crystal gazing up at her. It was black.

With another cry, she stumbled back, crawling away from the crystal as fast as she could.

"What-What's wrong, Aelphaba?" Daisy queried. "It's just a little bit of cryst..."

"Get away!" Elphaba shouted. "Get as far away from that thing as you can."

"What's the matter, Elphie?" Glinda sobbed.

"Just go!" Elphaba shouted. She then reached over and began dragging Fiyero away from the crystal. It was hard work, for he was a strong young man and she, Elphaba, was thin and encumbered by her large stomach. Daisy ran back to Bfan and led her as far away from the crystal as she deemed was safe. She then walked over to Nessa and came to a halt. There were no reins to be pulled upon.

Glinda, meanwhile, would not leave Fiyero and her friend to whatever evil that crystal brought forth. She knelt down by Elphaba's side and what little strength she had to help her pull Fiyero away from the crystal. Maybe it was the amount of tears in her eyes, or maybe the lack of sunlight was finally getting to her, but Glinda could swear that she saw the crystal slowly growing, getting taller and wider.

"Hurry!" she insisted. But they were going too slowly, especially because of Elphaba's condition. "Here, Elphie! Let me!" She picked up Fiyero's arms, both in each hand, and began dragging him back away from the crystal as fast as she could. "Take his feet!" Elphaba walked over to Fiyero's legs and picked his feet up under each arm-pit. She dare not carry them in front of her and, in the event of Fiyero suddenly waking, have him suddenly kick her in the stomach.

"You two!" Daisy shouted. "How the twig do you lead this wild thing without a harness or bridle?"

"Nessa doesn't need a harness!" Elphaba returned. "Now hurry! We have to get out of here!"

At Daisy's insistence, Fiyero was placed with Elphaba atop Bfan, while the old Munchkin-woman braved riding atop Nessa, who was now back on her feet, with Glinda. Once they were mounted, they rode off again, fear closing in on them from all sides as they fled the north-lands as quickly as possible.

* * *

><p>That night, they made camp somewhere in the frozen wasteland of Gilikin. Nessa and Bfan were idling at the edges of the camp-fire. Elphaba, desirous to know if they had gone far enough from that damnable black crystal, offered to start the fire with magic. But Daisy insisted that she start it 'the proper way' and without any magicking from 'the green girl.' It was still quite annoying, the way this middle-aged Munchkin kept referring to her by her skin, but Elphaba tried to keep herself from bursting out emotionally.<p>

She was also too busy with Glinda, seeing to Fiyero. To say that he looked very badly injured would be a grievous understatement. Bruises and cuts covered his face and, once the two ladies had removed his coat and shirt, discovered that these injuries went down his body as well: Glinda also noted a very ugly gash that had reopened in his chest. Red blood fell upon the blue-diamond tattoos in a very morbid and macabre camaraderie.

"Oh, Elphie!" Glinda sobbed. "What are we gonna do?"

Elphaba kept silent. She didn't know how to help him. She was no physician, and the memory of the sudden loss of magic that occurred when they were around the black crystal was burned into her mind.

Just then, Daisy ran over to the edge of their camp.

"Who's there?" she shouted. "Whoever you are, come out with your hands up."

To Elphaba's shock and surprise, a voice answered back.

"We mean you no harm!"

It was a woman's voice. Turning around, she saw Koiyo walking through the snow towards them, looking very disheveled.

"May a friend sit at your fire and warm herself?" she asked.

"It depends, missy." Daisy returned. "I'm not exactly sure if you're a friend or not."

"Shut up, you Munchkin hag!" Koiyo shot at the little old woman. "My business isn't with you." Without another word, she walked over to the fire and sat herself down across from Elphaba, Glinda and Fiyero.

"What brings you out here?" Elphaba asked. "I thought this was what you wanted."

"That earthquake?" she returned, scoffing. "That was none of my doing. At first I thought the Elements had risen up against Ozma, but my contacts in the Elemental Circle have told me that they themselves are under attack."

"By whom?" Glinda queried.

"Why do _you_ want to know, mistress of propaganda?"

"Ex-propagandist," Elphaba stated. "And she happens to be my friend."

Koiyo scoffed. "You make friends with silly, empty-headed little riff-raff girls like her? Maybe you're not as wise as I thought." Glinda pouted at being called 'riff-raff'.

"Just tell me already!" Elphaba snapped. "Why in Oz's name do you have to beat around the bush with every little thing?"

Koiyo smiled. "I'd forgotten how temperamental child-bearing women can be. One of the reasons I swore never to marry, or degrade myself by bearing children."

"I'll show _you_ temperamental!" Elphaba threatened, moving herself toward the smug-looking Koiyo.

"Elphie, please!"

"Elphie?" Koiyo mocked. "Now your little friend has a nick-name for you? Shouldn't it be Aelphie?"

"It-It...It goes either way." Glinda stated, coming up with the explanation on the spot.

Koiyo snorted. "Childish."

"Just tell us what caused that earthquake already!" Elphaba groaned in frustration.

"You were there, 'Aelphie'." Koiyo said in a haughty, mocking tone. "You saw it happen, or have you already forgotten?"

Elphaba's mind went back to the events of this afternoon, trying to recall what she had forced out through fear. She did not want to go back, since it was still so near and the thought of that crystal made it even worse.

"Just say it already!" Elphaba sighed.

"Say what?" Glinda asked.

_We still have our pact of silence!_ a voice spoke in Elphaba's mind. Looking around, she noticed that Koiyo held her in her gaze. Maybe she could speak into her mind? What if she found out about where she was from, and who she really was?

_There's no secrets between me and my friends!_ Elphaba thought, though it was more of her magic forcing her thoughts into words to be projected at Koiyo. Elphaba smiled to find herself back in control. _Either you tell them, or whatever you want to do, count me out_.

"You're so damn stubborn, Aelphaba!" Koiyo retorted. "Can't just accept things on face value and leave it at that, can you? Have to explore every thing to the utmost!"

"Sorry," Elphaba returned. "But last time I 'believed' in anyone, he turned out to be a fraud."

Koiyo sighed, her eyes rolling back into her thick eye-lids. This green woman was being such a nuisance, and few things ever got under Koiyo's skin the way she did.

"You know something, don't you?" Koiyo asked. "Something you're trying to forget. Speak your mind at once! Whatever dangers, however horrible it may be, I swear to you, in Kumbricia's sacred name, that they are _nowhere_ as horrible as what is about to happen."

Glinda let out a little yelp of fright, which made Koiyo smile mischievously. She obviously reveled in the power she had to inflict fright on 'riff-raff' without even as much as an ounce of magic.

Elphaba sighed, her eyes turning to the one source of light: the fire. In its dancing waves, she saw once again the flames that erupted from her hand as she threatened the Scarecrow, her lover Fiyero, with fire from atop a woodman's house. She saw the burning end of her broomstick as she tried to burn him again in Kiamo Ko. Suddenly the fire was waving about, dispelling beings made of shadows, before turning into a huge winged shadow of flame, and then a single eye with a slit that looked like a hole into the abyss.

She relayed to them all what happened in the cavern beneath the tomb of the Ozmas, and how the Chancellor had transformed. She could not fend him off with magic, so she ran for her life. Even as she was telling this, she began to shiver and Glinda sat down at her side and placed her arm around the green woman's shoulder. Daisy, meanwhile, was trying to tend to Fiyero as best she could.

"As I was running," Elphaba said. "I saw...images. Terrible images! Things out of my past, horrors I...I can't even _force_ myself to speak of them! Just the memory is enough to make my blood run cold and...and..."

"Drain you of all hope?" Koiyo finished.

Elphaba turned to the young woman, a look of restrained surprise on her face.

"Yes."

"It is as I feared." Koiyo sighed.

"What is?" Elphaba queried.

"Ever since your arrival," Koiyo began. "There have been reports going abroad of armies far and away mobilizing, of giant black crystals and a name whispered about in secrecy and fear."

"Wait," Glinda interjected. "Giant black crystals?"

"Yes, weren't you listening?"

"I was," Glinda stated. "It's just that we've seen one."

"_What?_" Koiyo almost shouted, a look of panic across her face.

"This afternoon," Glinda added. "It was just a little one!"

Her dark eyes turned fiercely towards Elphaba.

"Why didn't you tell me this before?"

"You wanted to know what happened in the cave," Elphaba returned. "Not while we were escaping!"

"Why does it even matter?" Glinda asked, a look of fear growing across her face as her voice rose. "It was just a little one!"

"Just a little one?" Koiyo mocked. "Have you heard nothing of the rumors?"

"No," Glinda said. "Ozma doesn't listen to rumors from abroad."

"Damn her!" Koiyo shouted. "Damn her and her stubbornness! She has doomed us all!"

"Why?" Elphaba asked. "What's going to happen?"

"Those black crystals have appeared before," Koiyo said. "In the other lands beyond the Deadly Desert these past four months. Rumors said that wherever these black crystals appeared, the land slowly rotted away, choking out all life and draining all magic from the land, while they, in mockery, grew taller and larger. Don't you see? They're here in Oz! There's no stopping him now!"

"Him? Who?"

"The Chancellor," Koiyo returned. "I fear he's gone rogue." She too looked into the fire as she continued to speak. "I looked inside his mind at the last moment. I thought he was one of us, seeking to overthrow Ozma for the greater good of Oz, but he's been twisted, corrupted. He's disenchanted with Ozma and all forms of order: all he wants now is to destroy her and use his powers to reshape Oz the way he sees fit."

Glinda gasped, Daisy said a prayer to Lurline, and Elphaba merely looked aghast. She had heard such stories, and had even supposed it to be such, when she saw the Chancellor with the Golden Mirror and while he was wasting away. But now here was the proof, as undeniable as ever.

"Is that kind of power...even possible?" she queried.

"I said once that there are many powers in this world, Aelphaba." Koiyo returned. "Well, the Chancellor himself was a great sorcerer in his own right and no greater swordsman there has ever been in Oz! And now _he_ has the Wonders, and now he's creating black crystals across Oz, leeching its life and magic - and for what? To gorge himself on it. Soon he will be invincible, omnipotent...maybe even immortal."

The way Koiyo whispered the last words were almost out of a kind of fearful respect, or maybe an acute sense of envy.

"But what about Ozma?" Elphaba queried.

"She'll be of no use to us." Koiyo returned. "The magic of those crystals leech the very life force and magical essence from all that is around them. Very soon, Oz will know sickness, suffering and death in a very personal way, thanks to the Chancellor."

"How do we stop him?" Glinda asked.

Koiyo scoffed. "You really _are_ stupid, aren't you?"

"You're mean!" Glinda pouted.

"Like I care what a stupid little girl thinks about me." Koiyo returned.

"Leave Glinda out of this, if you're going to insult her!" Elphaba bit back through clenched teeth. Koiyo simply rolled her eyes.

"There's no stopping him now," she said. "If he has all the Wonders, nothing will be able to stop him...not that anything _could_ stop him, if enough crystals grow here."

"What are the Wonders?" Elphaba asked.

"You saw the Mirror," Koiyo began. "That's just the lesser of them. With that alone, he can see you coming from the other side of Oz. The Cap grants three wishes as well as a binding spell. The Helmet can make him invisible at will - you won't be able to see him coming after you. The Cloak makes you move faster than the wind, he'll be on you before you can even notice it. The breastplate protects him from harm, so anything you might do will be useless, and who needs skill when you have the strongest, sharpest sword in all the land? It can cut through anything!"

"There's got to be something!" Elphaba insisted. "A-A weakness that he hasn't thought about that we can exploit."

"It's no use, there's nothing!" Koiyo returned. "Believe me, I've looked."

"You seem to know a lot yourself." Elphaba said suspiciously.

"Well," Koiyo answered. "Unlike you, I don't have a big fat belly to keep me trapped indoors all day. I've been all about Oz and the other lands, investigating these recent events. What I've gathered is what I've told you: black crystals rising about the lands, armies chanting the name of 'the Master' and the Golden Wonders."

"Who's 'the Master'?" Elphaba queried.

"Oh, I can't say it." Koiyo returned. "It's been enchanted. The Chancellor was clever enough to give himself a new name, one that would increase his own power every time it was spoken aloud."

"Can you write it?" Glinda asked.

Koiyo sighed with annoyance, then waved her hand in front of the fire. Four tongues of brilliant flame floated up out of the fire and formed the letters _O-K-L-I_ in mid-air above the fire, for all to see. Then with another wave of Koiyo's hand, the words rearranged themselves. Elphaba looked in shock as she saw the new name that was written, the name that Chancellor Okli had created for himself, the one that, even nine hundred years later, Ozians did not dare speak aloud...

_I-K-O-L_

"With each chant his armies speak," Koiyo stated. "He grows more powerful. Every time Ozma's foolish advisers speak his name, he grows more powerful. Now with the Wonders on his side and the black crystals leeching Oz of its virtue, there's no chance of escape. All we have to do is decide when to make our final stand." She sighed, speaking now to herself rather than to the four people around her. "For some, it will be sooner rather than later."

To her enraptured and frightened audience, Koiyo spoke again.

"If I were you," she said. "I'd get as far away from Gilikin as I could. Things are about to get deadly up here, and the weak have no place in a battle of the strong - enough people are going to die already."

With a dramatic wave of her cloak, Koiyo had vanished.

"She's right," Daisy spoke at last, after a long pause that followed her vanishing. "Let's go east, lay low in Munchkinland. Who knows, we're small enough that we'll go unnoticed in the wars of these big Gilikinese blundering buffoons."

Elphaba simply stared at the fire. Ever since she was a little girl, growing up in Rush Margins, she knew the legends of the Nameless Traitor. Now she knew why he was a traitor: he had betrayed his race, betrayed his ruler and even betrayed his co-conspirators. Now he spread his influence across Oz like a plague, leeching the life and health out of Oz like some verminous fiend. Of all the dangers she had faced, this seemed to be the most deadly.

_If you go off to fight this Ikol_, Elphaba thought. _You'll die. You cannot be so selfish to throw away your life and the life of your child. Think of Glinda, think of Fiyero and think of your child! Are you not better than your father, to be there for _your_ child? This is not your time, and therefore this is not your war!_

She nodded. It was the sanest excuse and the wisest decision.

But she still felt that she was betraying Oz and her friends...again.

* * *

><p><strong>(AN: There you go! The cat is out of the bag.)<strong>

**(I let this much get out because I felt the story is going on too slowly and needed to be quickened. Have only a few more chapters before we close up this journey of the _Ozian Adventures_ series [more may come, though, in the future], so leave your ideas if you have any!)**

**(Any other thoughts? Please, do not be shy!)**


	13. Eminent Thropp

**(AN: New chapter! I don't know how much longer I can go on, what with my computer's power input failing on me like it is.)**

**(As far as the story goes, I hope some of you have been following along. Daisy is one of those stock characters that you just gotta love - a middle-aged, somewhat cynical woman whom you could see Margaret Hamilton easily playing [that is, before _The Wizard of Oz_ made her infamous as the Wicked Witch of the West]. I rather enjoy her, and it will be sad once I've closed the story, since I can't tell any more about her [this is, after all, nine hundred years in the past].)**

**(Now enjoy the new chapter! It's got some references to future Ozian things, both musical and book)**

* * *

><p><strong>Eminent Thropp<strong>

The ladies decided to head for Munchkinland as per Daisy's request. For the next several days, they wandered in the snow, eager to get as far away from Gilikin as they could. Neither of them had a map, and it had been so long since Daisy had been kidnapped and taken from her native Munchkinland that she remembered very little of what it looked like or the way back.

To their great satisfaction and relief, they started to notice a change in the weather. The cold wind blew them onward, but the snow began to become thinner and thinner. Towards the end of the second day from the flight from Shiz, and wet grass appeared beneath the hooves of Bfan and Nessa as they tramped through the light snow. Another day and the snow was now far behind them. Both Elphaba and Glinda were glad to be out of the snow: four months of it was longer than any of them ever wanted. Even Daisy seemed less grouchy as they galloped through the steppes between Shiz and where the Emerald City should be.

It was mid-afternoon on the third day of their escape from Shiz, and they now were overlooking the valley where the Emerald City would one day be built. It was indeed a valley, for the rest of Gilikin rose up steadily higher behind them and sloped down into a great basin, with the lowest part being Restwater Lake.

"This vale is too empty," Daisy said, looking out from behind Glinda. "If I had that magical Cap the Lady Koiyo spoke of, the one that would grant me wishes, I'd wish for a big city right there..." She pointed at the empty valley. "A big one, where there'd be hundreds of inns for the road-weary, with hot fires in the hearths and warm food to fill an empty stomach."

"Oh, stop!" Glinda begged. "You're making me hungry!"

"It would be all in blue, of course." Daisy stated.

"Why blue?" Glinda queried.

"Because blue is the color of Munchkinland," Daisy obstinately said. "And this is my wish, after all."

"I'd make it pink." Glinda smiled, some of the old, silly school-girl coming out in this brief moment of peace and happiness. "And polish all the buildings so they're all shiny and sparkly in the sunlight!"

"Pink?" Daisy returned. "What in Oz's name possessed you to pick pink?"

"I like pink!" Glinda smiled.

"I thought you'd like blue," Daisy stated. "What with that pale-blue dress you're wearing." She looked back. "What about you, Aelphaba? What color would you make it?"

Elphaba smiled. After all, she knew where the Emerald City got its name from, and it wouldn't make much of a difference to tell this simple Munchkin-woman. Nine hundred years is a long time, she concluded, and Daisy might die before all this was sorted out.

"Green."

"Naturally." Daisy commented.

* * *

><p>There wasn't much for cover that night, so they tried to find a valley that offered some protection from the wind for their camp-site. Glinda, Elphaba and Daisy tended to Fiyero once they got him down off the horse. He was far away from that crystal, but he was still worse off for wear. If the wounds were healing, it was beyond the knowledge of either Daisy, Glinda or Elphaba to discern.<p>

They slept the night soundly without a single thought or fear. In the morning, Elphaba was the first one up. She had been kicked awake by the baby inside her, who seemed content to make her aware at every possible moment that he or she was alive and ready to be out and about. Elphaba hated how hard the baby kicked, especially if it kicked into her spine or bladder. It had been just that right now and she walked off to find a place to relieve herself.

This was actually quite easier said than done. This shallow valley offered no protection or even privacy, and Elphaba didn't feel like squatting down right in the open and relieving herself. Another thing that held her back was that, due to the baby's position, she felt that it might fall out of her at a moment's notice. With Fiyero in dire straits and many miles to travel, the last thing they needed was to be slowed down by Elphaba going into labor.

Her left foot gave way and Elphaba suddenly backed up, saving herself from a very dangerous fall. She gasped at seeing before her a hole in the ground. She was surprised that they had avoided it last night, and relieved as well: it would have been death in the darkness. Squatting down on her knees first, then getting onto all fours, Elphaba walked over to the edge of the hole and peered curiously into its yawning depths. She knew almost nothing about the Underworld below Oz, the land of the Nomes, according to legend, and was both fascinated and disturbed by it.

From where they were now staying and where that would be, Elphaba guessed that this dark hole was a cave entrance that was later excavated and enlarged into the dreaded Southstairs prison. None who went in ever came out. A chill came over Elphaba's body that had nothing to do with the cold morning breeze. She now felt that they couldn't be far enough away from this place.

To her great relief, they did not stay in this vale much longer. Once everyone was awake, they remounted and set off in the direction of the rising sun - well, the general direction that had once been the rising sun, since morning was fast on its way out. At mid-day, they came to a halt and prepared to change course.

"Which way should we go?" Glinda asked. She had only been to Munchkinland once, and that was to Center Munch to see Dorothy off to the Emerald City. It was much easier to come and go by bubble, but she never got to see much of the landscape and where she was going.

"Straight on, I say." Daisy stated. "It might take us two days to cross the Madeleines, but it's better than getting lost in the Pine Barrens. From what I hear, there's all sorts of wild creatures in that forest: prides of lions and fierce Khalidahs, things that are part-tiger and part-bear!"

"Oh my!" Glinda exclaimed.

"I can make fire." Elphaba said confidently. She had been in Munchkinland - she grew up there - and knew her way around the lands east of the Pine Barrens. But better to not say so out loud, that might attract unwanted attention.

"You're also two months shy of your time, dearie." Daisy returned. "Better early labor brought on by a trek through the mountains than a dead mother and child mauled by some Khalidah."

Elphaba sighed. Daisy meant well, and she really didn't have much of a choice, in her condition. Plus, she had Fiyero on her back to worry about, and that would make going into the Pine Barrens alone even more difficult.

"Okay, the mountains then."

* * *

><p>The Madeleines were not as hard as they thought, though they did have to dismount and lead Bfan and Nessa through the mountains on foot. Nessa definitely welcomed this change. The three women noticed that Nessa was becoming weaker and weaker ever since they left Shiz. Before, she could gallop for the whole day without resting for more than a few minutes. Now she was sluggish, walking more than running, and sometimes falling to her knees while Bfan slept on his feet.<p>

One evening, they had decided to stop in a bole of the mountains. It was quite well-protected from the wind; yea, only an eagle could have spotted them where they came to rest. The weather was still quite cold, so they built a fire. Fiyero's wounds seemed to be healing on their own, but he was still weak and unconscious. Elphaba, weary from days of wandering, fell asleep as soon as she sat down next to him.

"Daisy?" Glinda asked.

"Hmm?" the old Munchkin-woman returned.

"Tell me," she said. "What's Munchkinland like?" She hadn't been there but once, and knew very little about the land - no pun intended.

Daisy scoffed. "Why would a pretty Gilikin thing like you wanna know about plain ol' Munchkinland?"

"Please," Glinda insisted. "If we're going that way, I'd like to know what we're going to get ourselves into."

Daisy mumbled beneath her breath. "You're a strange thing, asking about Munchkins and all. Most of your kind are content with short jokes. You know, not all of us have small, squeaky voices!"

"I didn't say you did," Glinda returned. She continued, for some strange reason: it seemed that this old Munchkin was dead set on what she thought was 'right' and wouldn't hold with trying to be dissuaded, especially by someone that everyone thought was an empty-headed little princess.

"You know, not everyone in Gilikin is so snobbified." Glinda said. "There are nice open-mi...good, wholeso...What I mean is that there are some people who might surprise you by how open they can be."

"And you're supposed to be an example of Gilikinese open-mindedness?"

"Yes!"

Daisy shook her head, turned and looked into the fire, then walked over to Glinda's side.

"Do you know," she began. "You just might be a servant of Lurline yet, Glinda."

Glinda smiled. "Why do you say that?"

"Well, who else would want to unite the people of Oz and bring peace? Not Ozma, surely! There hasn't been a worthy Ozma since the first one, so they've said." She sighed as she came to rest at Glinda's side. "When this all gets sorted out, you need to make a public appearance before all of Oz: proclaim Lurline's message of peace and harmony."

"No, please..."

"But you must! Lurline alone knows what evils have befallen Oz lately." she sighed. "We need someone to follow, someone who will lead us, whether by person or example, into a better tomorrow for Oz. You could be that someone."

_But I'm not_, Glinda said inside. But she couldn't say so out loud, for their predicament was still fragile due to being in the past.

"Maybe," she returned. "But first, tell me about Munchkinland."

Daisy sighed. "There's not much I recall, it's been a while since I was last there. I had been kidnapped as a young woman and grew up in Shiz. I was born on a farm somewhere in the Wend Fallows. My family were corn-farmers, and it was expected that I become a farmer's wife myself once I came of age.

"There may not be anything that the fancy folk of Gilikin think is important or worth anything, but there's gold in Munchkinland: fields upon fields of corn in every direction. There's good earth in Munchkinland, and there's always food. We even get snow-apples from the highlands of the Applerue. But the mothers always warn their children about asking first before taking from a tree, because some trees fight back.

"Contrary to popular belief, we're not all short in Munchkinland. There's the Munchkins, my people: the short ones. We're a hardy folk, very near to the earth and excellent farmers. The Munchkinlanders are the tall ones, they've got the brains for rulership and government. That's where the Eminent Thropp comes from."

"Who?"

"Our ruler," Daisy returned. "Since Ozmas have usually been chosen from Gilikinese girls, and since Gilikin doesn't respect Munchkinland as anything more than serfs, we have our own ruler: our own Ozma. The Eminent Thropp is always a woman, a female to rule Munchkinland as both governor and spiritual leader. Everyone wants to meet her, since she is our leader and her petition is as good, to us, as a word from your Ozma."

_She's not my Ozma_, Glinda thought. _In fact, I find myself loathing her even more than I loathed Elphaba when first we met._

* * *

><p>The next morning found them finally out of the Madeleines. Before their eyes stretched a sea of golden corn as far as the eye could see. Elphaba felt her heart leap for joy, being back in her homeland: or maybe it was the moving of the child within her, that seemed to happen a lot. To further compound her joy, the trek through the Madeleines had not brought on early labor.<p>

"There it is!" Daisy commented proudly. "Muchkinland!"

"It's so prettiful!" Glinda commented with awe.

"And you should see the fields of blue corn! Munchkin-corn, it's called." Daisy said, with even greater pride.

"Where will we be going next?" Elphaba asked, trying hard not to let her excitement at being back in her homeland show.

"Colwen Grounds." Daisy answered.

The ride from the mountains across the fields of corn seemed easy enough. In the end, it was actually rather monotonous. The rows upon rows of tall corn-stalks stretched on forever, with no end in sight. Daisy led them along the farmer's paths, the paths around each separate field that made it that they did not have to run straight through the fields. Even so, there was nothing on all sides except for corn. They ended up spending the night in the corn-field.

* * *

><p>In the morning, they were prodded awake by the butt-end of some kind of farming tool.<p>

"Rise 'n' shine, tallies!" a voice ordered.

Elphaba, sleeping next to Fiyero, had her face obscured by her hair. As she turned around, rising up, the Munchkin farmers took a step back.

"And just what are you, greenie?" one of the farmers, one who was going to seed with age, asked suspiciously. "Some kind of witch?"

"Looks like she's gone one in the oven!" his comrade, a skinny fellow with a large beard, said, pointing at Elphaba's stomach.

"By my briches, you're right! What d'you reckon we do to it?"

"Kill 'em both!"

"No, wait!" Glinda jumped up from her sleep at the slight suggestion of harming her friend.

"Well, hey there!" the fat farmer said, a smile upon his face. "What are the odds of finding a pretty little thing like you travelin' with a green monster?"

Just then, Daisy rose from her sleep, groaning and complaining about the bedding.

"Hey, look!" the thin one said. "This one's alright!"

"Alright, is she?"

"Well, she's the right color and she ain't tall-like." the thin, bearded one said. "Here, I think she might be Munchkin-folk."

"Of course I'm a Munchkin, ya dumb farm-boys!" Daisy returned in her typical grouchy fashion. Or maybe she was just a little more grouchy today.

"Maybe you can tell us who they are." the clean-shaved fat Munchkin said, pointing his pitch-fork at Glinda and Elphaba.

"Refugees from Gilikin." Daisy said. "They want to meet Her Eminence."

The two farmers stopped dead in their tracks, mouths hanging agape. They parted, whispering a few words among each other, then turned back to the strangers.

"Follow us, then."

The two Munchkins took them over to a wagon, pulled by an ox (or was it an Ox?), and ordered them to get inside. Nessa, being too large, was hitched to the back with Bfan by a length of rope the Munchkins tied to their necks. Nessa put up a fight at first, but was soon too tired to resist and succumbed to the rope. This all set, the Munchkins cracked the reins across the ox's back and it set off from the spot.

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><p>They arrived at Colwen Grounds a few hours after noon. For a small town, it was in fact the largest of such towns scattered throughout Munchkinland prior to the construction of the Yellow Brick Road. From the cart, Glinda gazed with amazement at the quaint dwelling structures, many of the two story-tall houses, and these were few, only twice the height of Fiyero. The largest, a three story structure that looked about as tall as a two story building for non-Munchkins, the farmers halted their wagon at. They got out and spoke to the majordomo, a rotund Munchkin with a twirled mustache and a forked beard. They delivered a few words to him, and then he walked over to the cart.<p>

"This it?" he asked, in a deep, voluminous baritone voice.

"Aye, that's them." the thin farmer said.

"Alright now," the majordomo said. "Bring yourselves up and outta that cart. Luck has it that you've found Her Eminence at a time when she has no appointments. Remarkable, I know, but come along."

"What about our beasts?" Daisy queried, indicating to Bfan and Nessa.

"I'll have the servants take them off to the stables." the majordomo said. "Now come along, Her Eminence cannot be kept waiting indefinitely." Elphaba, Daisy and Glinda made their way off the cart, pulling Fiyero along with them.

"Please, sir." Elphaba inquired of the majordomo. "Can't something be done for Yero? We've been on the road for almost a week and he's seriously injured."

"Can't you just use a spell to heal him, witch?" the majordomo asked.

"If I could," Elphaba snapped back. "Do you think I would bother asking you to take care of him?"

"I cannot do a thing, giant green monster," the majordomo stated. "Until I have presented you to Her Eminence. Now fall in!"

Glinda and Elphaba dragged Fiyero along, with both of his arms around their shoulders. Before them Daisy walked next to the majordomo as he led them into this humble yet beautiful palace of 'Her Eminence'. While they were walking, a funny thought came to Glinda's mind. She had long ago given up on the hope of ever being with Fiyero, which is not to say that she didn't cherish ever finding a lover of her own. Yet even now, as they were walking through the low-ceiling halls of the palace of Colwen Grounds, a smile crept across Glinda's face.

She was now as close as she could ever hope to get to her beloved 'Fifi.'

The main room was filled with blue candles, though it looked otherwise quite bare. A throne of wood and blue cushions sat at the farthest end of the room. Upon it sat a woman about the age of mid-to-late thirties. They could tell that she was also a Munchkinlander, one of the taller people of the East. She was clad in a simple black dress, fitted with embroidery of blue and slashes through the sleeves, the skirt and the bodice, which were also blue. To the fickle tastes of Gilikinese women, this outfit looked like a bruise. To her, it was elegant.

"Visitors to our beloved Munchkinland, Your Eminence!" the majordomo presented, stepping aside and waving his hand at the guests. He then turned to them. "Behold, Her Eminence Azalea Thropp, ruler of Munchkinland."

The Munchkinlander woman rose up from her throne. The two women knelt before her, but Glinda noticed that Elphaba was trying to hold back tears.

"What's wrong, Elphie?" Glinda whispered.

She didn't say anything, but her eyes were fixated on the Eminent Thropp, her maternal ancestor, now walking before them. They noticed that she wasn't much taller than Elphaba, maybe a few inches taller than Glinda. She had fair skin and reddish brown hair, tied back behind her head.

"Aster!" she said, turning to the majordomo.

"Your Eminence." he bowed.

"What is wrong with this man?" she indicated to Fiyero.

"I know not, Your Eminence."

"He's been wounded." Glinda said, speaking suddenly out of term. "I mean, uh, Your Eminence."

"Oh, don't bother with ettiquette." Azalea waved aside. "I'm not as picky about honorifics and titles as Ozma." She then turned back to Aster the Majordomo. "But I wish my guests to be treated with some measure of hospitality!"

"But Your Eminence..."

"No buts, Aster! Now, find the physician and have him tend to this wounded man."

"As you wish, Your Eminence." Aster bowed and walked out of the room as fast as his little legs could carry him.

"Now, ladies." she said, turning to those before her. "As I have extended the hand of kindness in providing for your wounded friend, would you mind telling me your names?"

Elphaba was still fighting back tears, Glinda was busy looking around at the room, beautiful in its spartan efficiency.

"I am Daisy Fromica, of Wend Fallows, Your Eminence." Daisy began. "I was kidnapped as a young woman and carried off to Gilikin as a slave."

"Oh, damn the Ozma and her pernicious desire to enslave my people! Does she think that all Munchkins deserve to be enslaved because of their height?"

"Actually, Your Eminence, she does."

Azalea walked over to a mirror on one end of the wall that stood before a bowl of water. She washed her face in it, then walked over to her guests, looking a little more collected.

"I'm sorry for my outburst." she continued. "Miss Fromica, since you are a native of Munchkinland, I give you back your freedom."

"Oh, I'm honored, Your Eminence!" Daisy curtseyed before her ruler, bowing her head very low.

"It's my pleasure, my dear." Azalea said with sincerity. She then turned to the others. "And you two, your names."

"Uh...I am Glinda." the blond said. "Of the...uh, Upper Uplands. And the '_gah_' is silent, by the way."

"And a high society dame, no less." Glinda noticed that Azalea's tone was more formal than it had been before. "And what brings you to Colwen Grounds, Glinda? Come to kill us in our beds?"

"No, I mean no disrespectation to you or your people!" Glinda replied. "In fact, I wish there were peace between our two races."

"I wish that too." Azalea almost whispered. She then turned to Elphaba.

"Who are you?" she asked. Elphaba did not answer. Taking a step closer, she noticed the look of restrained sadness on the green woman's face. "Is there something wrong, my dear?" Azalea could not pry herself away from the brown eyes that stared back at her from the green woman's face. Eventually she did, and her eyes went down to the large swollen stomach buried beneath her black traveling dress.

"Sweet Oz, you're pregnant!" Azalea exclaimed. She then stepped back, a look of frustration on her face and in her tone. "Oh, where is that bothersome Aster! I could strangle him!"

As if on cue, the sound of bells ringing from a belt could be heard as Aster scurried along, the Thropp's doctor following hot on his trail.

"Doctor," Azalea announced. "Take these and have them to a private chamber. They are to be treated as guests, at Aster Follywroth's expense, and given food and water according to their needs. The young man is to receive immediate medical attention right away."

"As you wish, Your Eminence."

"Oh, and uh..." Azalea paused. "Bring one of my ladies-in-waiting with you. I want her to examine this green woman, see if she is well, or if she is near her time."

"As you command!"

The doctor led the four of them out of the Eminent Thropp's presence, while Aster was most likely begging for an explanation as to what he had done wrong. Once they were out of ear-shot, Glinda turned to Elphaba and saw her rubbing tears out of her eyes.

"Oh, Nessa!" she sobbed quietly. "Oh...mother!"

* * *

><p><strong>(AN: Hope you enjoyed this. More to be revealed later on, don't worry)<strong>

**(As per the book, the female descendants are 'Eminent Thropp', and therefore Azalea is an ancestor of Melena [Elphaba's mother]. As the Thropps are the ruling family in Munchkinland, it would serve that Frexspar took on her name, rather than her taking on his name, when he [in the musical] became governor.)**

**(Yes, I had the "Oh my!" reference from _The Wizard of Oz_. I hope you can stomach this story better than I can. But don't worry, I'm not closing it up until it's done!)**

**(_Please_ give reviews! Give critique, I feel that my writing may have gotten worse or that I'm not describing my stuff enough.)**


	14. The Golden Dagger

**(AN: So far I've been rather ambiguous with certain stuff. Don't worry, it's all good.)**

**(Before we continue, let me state that Azalea Thropp is in _no _way an MS. Her only purpose is to help Elphaba get over being so emotional about the death of her mother and sister.)**

**(The reviews, so far, have been close to just one-word. What's the deal? Maybe once the next chapter after this one is posted, I will have loosened your tongues enough so that you'll be able to post longer reviews! :D [evil laughter])**

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><p><strong>The Golden Dagger<strong>

They were placed in the largest room possible, one made for Munchkinlander dignitaries who often visited Her Eminence. The little lady-in-waiting was so afraid of the green woman that she didn't dare perform her duty, so she bolted with a squeal. Elphaba sighed, but that was how it had to be: let the people be afraid, because if not, there would be no escape in your own time.

The doctor, however, was much more willing to tend to Fiyero than the lady-in-waiting had been to Elphaba. He concluded that most of his wounds were healing and that he should remain in bed until he regained consciousness.

"No more long journeys for you, I'm afraid." the doctor said to the comatose Fiyero.

After the doctor left, Elphaba walked over to the bed and laid down upon it on her side, burying her face in her hands. Glinda almost ran over to her side.

"Elphie, please! Tell me what's troubling you."

"What isn't, Glinda?" she whispered. "I'm encumbered by this baby - useless to anyone! We have no way of getting back to our own time and..." She moved her hands down. "And what if there is no our time when we get back?"

"Why would you say that?"

"The Chancellor," Elphaba returned. "If he succeeds, there won't be an Oz to go back to, Glinda."

"But this isn't our time, Elphie! You said so yourself! Anything we might do will interfere..."

"I'm tired of doing nothing! Oh, Oz, it feels like Kiamo Ko again; like the whole world just clipped my wings before shoving me down under foot."

"Oh, Elphie!" Glinda placed her hand on her friend's shoulder. Elphaba sobbed quietly, and Glinda reached up and wiped the tears from Elphaba's green cheeks. The ghost of a smile split Elphaba's face.

"What about the Eminent Thropp?" Glinda asked. "I saw you, you were fighting back tears when we stood in her presence. What's wrong with her?"

Elphaba shook her head.

"She's my ancestor." Elphaba said. "On my mother's side."

Glinda gasped, two hands going over her mouth as if on cue.

"D-Do you mean that..." Glinda gasped.

"Yes, Glinda. Nine hundred years or no, she bears the likeness of my mother...and of poor Nessa!" Elphaba collapsed into new tears, her hand balling up into a fist and striking her forehead. "Oh, Nessa! I wasn't strong enough, I wasn't fast enough! I-I didn't do enough to help you."

"Oh, Elphie!" Glinda said sorrowfully.

Just then, a knock was heard at the door.

"Come in." Glinda returned.

The door opened, and Daisy walked in meekly with a large bundle in her hand. Behind her walked Azalea Thropp.

"Your Eminence!" Glinda rose, bowing before her.

"No need, my dear." Azalea dismissed. "Today, I'm Azalea Thropp." She walked over to her pregnant descendant and knelt at her side. "My lady, I don't know who you are..."

"Her name is Aelphaba." Glinda answered. "Just...Aelphaba."

"Well, Aelphaba." Azalea continued. "I can see that you've had a hard life. After all, when the Munchkin explorers found Quadling, they were frightened of the red-skinned swamp-people too." She smiled, as if in jest, and then her expression fell when she saw that neither of the women were smiling or laughing.

"The young man," she continued. "Is he your husband? Your lover?"

"Yes." Glinda said.

"Can't Aelphaba answer for herself?"

"She's too distraught, Your Eminence."

Azalea turned and waved Daisy over with her bundle.

"Please, Miss Aelphaba." she continued. "Take heart. You're safe in the land of the Munchkins. And if I'm not mistaken, soon your child will be born and there will be much happiness!" Azalea obviously never married or had children of her own, at this time.

"I, uh, I'm not very good at hospitality," Azalea continued. "But...there's something about you, Miss Aelphaba. I've never met you before, and yet...I feel like I know you. Far be it from the Eminent Thropp to refuse hospitality to anyone, much less one...who has her favor, and her love."

She turned to Daisy and the middle-aged Munchkin-woman gave her the bundle.

"I know you won't be able to wear this for a while, Miss Aelphaba." Azalea said, looking at the black-and-red bundle in her hands. "But it's one of my favorites. I hope it fits." She placed the bundle at the side of the bed and then got back to her feet.

"Th-Thank you, Your Eminence!" Glinda said.

Daisy tugged at her dress, whispering something in her ear, and Azalea nodded, letting the middle-aged woman stay with Glinda and Elphaba while the Eminent Thropp left. Once she was gone, Glinda picked up the bundle and let it fall before her.

A gasp escaped her lips. It was a dress made of black fabric with red woven throughout it. Measuring it up against herself, Glinda saw that the dress was just a little too long for her, but most likely too short for Elphaba, even if she were not pregnant.

_But it was the thought that counted_, Glinda mused.

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><p>It was night-time. All were asleep save for Elphaba, who lay sulking on her bed, trying to go to sleep despite the persistent kicks into her spine from the baby inside her. As if being encumbered by her large stomach wasn't bad enough, the baby had to make its presence known every moment.<p>

Oh, if only I had gone into early labor in the Madeleines, Elphaba thought. At least this would be over with already.

The door creaked open, and Elphaba heard the tapping of slipper-covered feet on the carpeted floor. She turned her head around, despite the horrible back-aches she had been suffering under lately, and saw the black-clad figure of Azalea Thropp walking toward her.

"I'm sorry," Azalea said. "I disturbed your sleep."

"No, it's fine."

A smile crept onto Azalea's face. "So you can speak. For a moment there, I thought you were mute."

Elphaba tried hard to keep herself from smiling. Just the way Azalea Thropp smiled looked exactly like Nessarose when she smiled. Even worse, her father - Elphaba's, that is - always reminded both of them that Nessarose was the perfect image of her mother. While Nessa had lived, some semblance of her mother was always with her. But now she was dead, as was her mother, ere Elphaba ever got to know her.

But here they were, both alive again, in this, their common ancestor.

"I heard my maids wouldn't tend to you." Azalea stated, as she knelt down at Elphaba's side. "I don't exactly know how to take care of a pregnant mother, but is there anything I can do to help?"

A strange idea came to Elphaba's mind. Strange in that it defied every empirical, logical thought that she had for the past twenty-three years of her life. It was also strange because, Elphaba knew, she had almost no nurturing tendencies within her. Of course there was Nessarose, but that was more of an older sister taking care of her younger sister, not of a mother and her child. There was Glinda, but that was also more of the big brother taking care of someone almost completely ignorant of the evils of this world. Fiyero, of course, could take care of himself - to a degree - and so that did not translate well. Maybe she had been with this child growing inside her for so long that she was starting to feel some kind of fondness for the strong, little being swimming around inside her.

"Tell us a story." Elphaba requested.

"Us?" Azalea asked, looking around to see if she had missed anyone.

"Me and the baby." She turned around, allowing Azalea to view the mountainous rise between her lap and her chest.

"Okay," Azalea smiled, resting her chin beneath her hands, both of which were now propping it up upon the bed. "Let me see if I know any good stories." Her brow crinkled in that very familiar way that Elphaba recognized whenever Nessarose was trying really hard to think about something to say. That didn't happen much, because she was often controlled by her feelings rather than thoughts. But Elphaba had seen it before, and it was just too cute.

"Here's one." Azalea began. Elphaba smiled, then rested her head against the pillow while her ancestor began.

"Once upon a time, there was a young prince who fell deeply in love with a princess, who was locked away in a tower at the top of Mount Runcible. But the tower was guarded by an evil sorcerer, the most powerful sorcerer in all the land. He had used his magic to put the princess into a deep sleep. But the prince was not afraid of the evil sorcerer, for he had with him a trick up his own sleeve. So, he rode across the land..." At this point, Azalea took two fingers and pretended to gallop across Elphaba's stomach, which made the green woman smile. "...all the way to the top of the mountain." She came to rest at the highest point.

"Instead of going up to the tower, the prince entered a cave underneath and so came into the bottom-most level of the tower, away from the eyes of the evil sorcerer. He then climbed to the highest point of the tower, to the princess' chamber, where she lay sleeping. He drew forth the Golden Dagger from his person - the most powerful of the Nine Golden Wonders - and used it to break the enchantment around the princess. With the princess in his arms and the Dagger in his hand, the prince stormed out of the castle. When the evil sorcerer saw that the princess had been rescued by the prince, who had the Golden Dagger in his hand, he was mortally afraid and ran into the tower, hiding in the highest room. The prince and the princess rode off into the sunset, where they were married and lived happily ever after."

"And what happened to the evil sorcerer?" Elphaba asked.

"He stayed in the tower."

"Did he ever come out?"

"Not yet." Azalea replied.

Elphaba laughed. Azalea smiled, then looked down at the green woman's stomach.

"I hope you enjoyed it." Elphaba smiled again, then moved her hand over to the side of it.

"Oh, I think he did." She stated, feeling where the baby was kicking.

"How do you know it'll be a boy?" Azalea asked.

"He's kicking me so hard," Elphaba answered. "That's got to come from a boy."

"Or a girl." Azalea returned. "You know, we're not as weak as the people of Gilikin believe women to be."

Elphaba nodded, her thoughts drifting through the story of what had just happened. At first she seemed disgusted at the thought that the villain would be a typical 'evil sorcerer', which could just as easily be replaced with a 'wicked witch'. But then she saw how the villain was defeated: his own cowardice ruled him. That reminded Elphaba of what Glinda said about the Wizard's departure from Oz. The 'Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz' ran almost like a whipped dog, just like the 'evil sorcerer' ran at the mere threat of danger.

Just then, another thought came to Elphaba's mind.

"You know about the Golden Wonders?"

"Only a little," Azalea returned. "I've listened to the stories from travelers from Quox and Fliaan. There's supposed to be nine."

"I only heard of five." Elphaba said. "A cap, a helmet, a breastplate, a sword and a cloak."

"I've heard of those," Azalea returned. "And four more."

"But I thought the Sword was the most powerful." Elphaba said.

"Oh, no." Azalea replied. "People just say so because it's a big weapon that can cut through anything, even enchantments. But the Dagger is supposed to be the most powerful, even though its one of the smallest of the Wonders. See, not only was it the sharpest dagger that can kill whatever its stabbed into, it could also break the power of the other eight Wonders, rendering them useless. The idea is that even ultimate power needs something to balance it out."

Elphaba nodded, though she was inwardly stunned beyond belief. Was it true? Was there some possible hope of succeeding?

"Anything else you'd like?" Azalea asked.

"No, thank you." Elphaba shook her head.

"Then, with your permission," the Eminent Thropp said. "I would..." Elphaba saw her face flush.

"What?"

"Oh, no, I couldn't." Azalea turned as if ready to leave. "I just couldn't! How stupid of me to ask."

"No, tell me what you'd like."

"Oh, alright." Azalea turned back to her descendant (though she knew it not). "I would - and if you say no, I totally understand and won't force you..."

"Just say it already."

"Alright! I would really like..." She hid her face in her hands. "To touch it. Oh, how stupid of me. You must have a thousand people asking to touch it, it's probably annoyifying beyond belief!"

"Actually, only three." Elphaba returned, guessing correctly what her ancestor meant by 'it.'

"I don't have to," Azalea sighed, finally able to breathe a little easier. "It was a silly thing to ask. I..I..." With no more words to say, she buried her head in the blankets on the side of Elphaba's bed, trying to regain her lost composure.

Strange feelings began flowing through Elphaba Thropp. She did not know what to make of them. It was like with Glinda; the same warm, fuzzy feelings she felt when having 'heart-moments' with Glinda, she now felt with this strange woman, her ancestor.

But she had to know.

"Your Eminence?"

"Hmm?" Azalea did not lift her head from the bed.

"Why do you care so much about me?" she queried. "I'm a stranger...and green at that!"

"You're much more than that," Azalea returned, her face rising up from the bed-side. "I feel like I know you, as close as one knows their closest kin. I-I can't explain it, I can't trace what part of the family you might be from, but I feel that our destines are tied somehow."

_In more ways than you can imagine_, Elphaba thought.

"But who am I kidding?" Azalea sighed. "You don't know me, and this is probably weird for you. I-I should go."

Azalea turned to leave, but suddenly stopped. A hand had wrapped itself around hers. Turning around, she saw that the hand belonged to the green woman. Before she could ask any questions, the raven-haired woman took Azalea's hand and placed it upon her stomach.

"Oh!" Azalea sighed, as she felt the baby moving just a few inches beneath her hand. "You have my blessing, Aelphaba. You and your child." She leaned in and kissed Elphaba upon the forehead. With a swirl of her black dress and her unbound reddish-brown hair, Azalea Thropp walked out of the room.

Once she was gone, Elphaba pushed herself up off the bed and walked over to Glinda's bed. Beneath it was the bag that Fiyero had brought with them when they left Shiz. She rummaged through it, heedless that her movements had roused Glinda from her slumber, and pulled out the object she had been looking for...

The Grimmerie.

"Elphie, what's going on?"

"No time to talk, Glinda!" Elphaba returned, a smile growing across her face and control on her mind. She was back in control again. "I think I know how we can save Oz."

"Elphie!" the little blond bounded off the bed and ran to Elphaba's side. "We can't be doing this! What if we damage the future, like you said before?"

"Unless something is done," Elphaba returned. "There won't be any future to be ruined."

She was now thumbing through the pages frantically.

"Elphie, please! Don't do anything rash! You don't know what the Grimmerie could do to you! And think of your condition!"

"Don't try to stop me, Glinda! I know what I'm doing!"

The Grimmerie was now open, its pages glowing violet in the darkened room, with the silvery characters dancing upon the pages. Elphaba's fingers traced across the page, then paused, and she spoke the spell.

_Mentay Ventu Mentay Visu Oculu Visu Lepay Omnu. _Mentay Ventu Mentay Visu Oculu Visu Lepay Omnu.__

Over and over she spoke the words, spirals of magic flowing out of the book and around her body, coursing along her hands and arms as they wove above the pages. Glinda stood back, her hands over her eyes, in fear of what might happen.

Elphaba, meanwhile, was now slowly rising to her feet, both of her eyes fixated on the spectacle before her. It looked like the air had become water, rippling unevenly just a few feet above the ground. Within the ripples, there was a light that flickered between shining brightly and trying to reveal some kind of image.

"Sweet Oz, Elphie!" Glinda exclaimed, her eyes peeping out from in between her hands. "What have you done?"

"There it is!" she said, pointing into the rippling image. "That's where he is!" The waves dissipated, leaving no sign that anything had ever been there. Elphaba, now on her feet, walked over to the desk, writing down a quick note, and threw it upon the bed.

"Where are you going?" Glinda inquired.

"West." she returned, throwing her travel-cloak back over her shoulders. "It's where we should have gone in the beginning."

"Oh, then I'm coming with you!"

"No, Glinda! You have to stay here, tell them where I've..."

"Elphaba Thropp, you listen to me!" Glinda hissed, trying to sound serious and imposing. "I may not be as good a sorceress as you, but I refuse to be some cute little baggage, holding on to your skirt while you go off on whatever you're about to do!"

"It's too dangerous!"

"And traipsing through Mordor wasn't?"

Elphaba didn't have an answer for this.

"Now I'm going with you whether I have to run along behind you like a stray dog! But I'm not running away again!"

Elphaba smiled, wrapping her arms around the little blond's shoulders. It felt like the old days again, when they were just barely twenty, hiding in the attic of the Wizard's palace for their lives. Her heart was racing as they ran down the halls of the palace, looking for the one place they needed to be.

The stables.

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><p><strong>(AN: Once again, LotR references I do not own)<strong>

**(I created that Grimmerie spell, jsyk)**

**(Here's a question for all you _Wicked_-fans. What day should Elphaba's birthday fall upon? I'm thinking October 30th, since that was both when _Wicked_ premiered on Broadway in 2003 and when I saw it with the 1st National Tour in Atlanta Georgia in 2008. If anyone else has a better idea, please suggest.)**

**(Here's a little odd thing. As I've stated before, this Elphaba was fashioned after Eden Espinosa. However, while I was writing this chapter, I kept seeing Jemma Rix as Elphaba in my mind rather than Eden. Idk why, but what does it mean? [I have never seen Jemma portray Elphaba, not even the boot-legs, so I don't know if I should re-model Elphaba after her since I would have no idea how to re-arrange the character and her mannerisms])**

**(I hope you recognized the dress that Azalea gave to Elphaba. I can't tell you what it is now because it might involve spoilers.)**


	15. A Sinner's Damnation

**(AN: I do hope you've been paying attention. We've got a new chapter out for this story, as it's starting to come to a fitting conclusion [one that I foresaw since _The Witch's Saga_, and therefore has nothing to do with the fact that you've been avoiding this story].)**

**(Hopefully once I'm done, I will be able to work on my other stories. But for now, get ready for the big show-down)**

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><p><strong>A Sinner's Damnation<strong>

If there had been a Yellow Brick Road to follow, Elphaba and Glinda surely would have done so. As there was not, the two of them took Nessa out of the stables and set off in the direction that Elphaba knew best. Unlike coming and going by bubble, flying about on a broomstick offered much more opportunities to view the land of Oz in greater detail, and Elphaba knew her way around Munchkinland.

With Glinda holding onto Elphaba's neck for dear life, they left Colwen Grounds, riding on the north-side of the Munchkin River. Though the day was almost spent and the shadows were growing longer, Elphaba showed no sign of stopping. Glinda decided that she didn't have anywhere to complain.

_I chose to come along with her_, she thought. _I can endure._

They ended up riding all through the night, passing through the fearful Pine Barrens as they went. Glinda was nodding onto her friend's shoulder, and missed most of the journey. Sometimes Nessa would jump over a fallen tree and Glinda would be roused from her sleep for a moment only to see the dark forest gleaming in the moonlight. It was quite eerie, for most of the moon-beams did not penetrate this deep through the canopy of the trees. Sometimes she thought she heard the rustling of tree-branches as some creature made their way through the forest. She meant to cry out, but sleep pulled her back under.

When Glinda finally did wake up again, the night was long gone and morning was around them. To her left she saw the still, clear surface of Restwater Lake, stretching on for untold miles. To her right, she saw the Madeleines in the distance, girt about the roots with the last of the Pine Barrens. Cool wind was blowing upon their faces from the north, and Elphaba's hair flew in the wind like a sea of black banners. Glinda found herself getting whipped by the magnificent yet oily locks, and so buried her face in Elphaba's shoulder.

This whole pretending to be allergic to water thing was going to be harder than they had originally thought.

They crossed the bridge that spanned the Gilikin River just east of the Shale Shallows fort. From the sounds that Glinda heard, she guessed that the fort was now aware of their presence. Daisy and Azalea back at Colwen Grounds were probably aware of their absence as well. Elphaba was most definitely aware of this fact, but she showed no sign of slowing her pace. Nessa was galloping on at top speed, the stay at Colwen Grounds seemingly to have invigorated her strength and her stamina.

The two rode past Kellswater, which was much smaller than the great Restwater Lake, and were making a straight shot directly toward the Great Kells - the mountains that separated the far Vinkus from the Gilikin River. Crossing the Vinkus River, however, would be a chore all-together. There had been a ford at Kumbrica's Pass, but that was far to the south and would add many more miles and hours to their journey.

Fortunately, there might be another way, one which Elphaba was trying to exploit. The plateau that separated the Upper Kells from the Great Kells, upon which the castle of Kiamo Ko would one day be built, was the location of of of the two springs that fed the Vinkus River. This meant that the whole pass was not obscured by the Vinkus River, and they could gain the high ground without having to ford another river.

While they were riding, just within sight of the plateau, Nessa suddenly gave a cry and rose up in the air. Glinda was the first to fall off, with Elphaba trying to hold on for her life and for that of the baby. Still lying on her back on the thin grass, Glinda watched with horror as Elphaba fought to stay atop the bucking horse.

"Elphie!" she cried out. "Jump into my arms! Please, before something bad happens!"

The green woman fell off the back of the horse, landing right onto Glinda. The little blond was too small and had not the strength to hold her, and they both fell, with Elphaba laying on top of poor Glinda.

"Are you okay?" Glinda wheezed from beneath Elphaba. Though once she had been thin and rather light-weight, the extra pounds of her carrying her child made her quite a load for poor Glinda to have suddenly thrown upon her.

"I should be asking you that question!" Elphaba said, as she pushed herself clumsily up onto her feet.

"I'm fine!" Glinda said. "What about Nessa?"

Elphaba ran over to the horse, who was writhing on the ground on her side. Elphaba knelt down by the head, attempting to calm her down.

"Nessa, what's wrong?" she asked. "Are you hurt?"

"She's not a Horse, Elphie." Glinda said, joining her friend. "I think she's just skid-dish."

"She's never been this skid-dish before! Something else is wrong!"

"I know the answer."

Both Elphaba and Glinda gasped, turning around in shock to see who had spoken. They saw a tall black figure, covered in a cloak of black swan feathers.

"You!" Elphaba spat, her eyes narrowing to venomous slits. "You've done something to Nessa!"

"And why would I harm your horse?" Koiyo queried. "Relax! I'm on your side...for now."

"My side?"

"Well, we _both_ want to stop the Chancellor, don't we?"

"First things first," Elphaba snapped, rising to her feet. "What's wrong with Nessa?"

"It's the black crystals." Koiyo answered. "My own powers have grown steadily weaker since they started appearing."

"What's going to happen to her?"

"They're sucking the life out of all of Oz, in case you haven't noticed." Koiyo returned. "And she's going with it, just like the rest. Though why she's going so soon, I have no idea."

"Going?"

"She will die eventually, as will we all."

"Why are you telling me this?" Elphaba queried suspiciously. "I thought you said there was nothing we could do to stop the Chancellor."

"Correction, there's nothing _I_ can do." Koiyo said. "He knows me too well, he knows the extent of my powers. He would be prepared for an assault of force from me, and would seek to break me - to force me to become his thrall."

"But?"

"But I've come up with a possible plan to stop him."

"How? You said he couldn't be stopped!"

"Use the very crystals he created to imprison him. With the crystals leeching whatever magic that they find, they will keep him from ever gaining enough power to escape."

"And how do we do that if the crystals are leeching the life out of Oz?"

"They leech life and magical energies, but they can always be broken with brute force. Unfortunately, I'm not exactly muscle-bound, so it will have to be one of you." A sledge-hammer suddenly appeared out of nowhere and fell into Glinda's hands, who stumbled a bit at holding the awkwardly heavy tool.

"Some help you are," Elphaba returned. "Just tell us what to do and send us off just like that. Well I'm sorry, but I won't be your lackey. I've found another way to kill the Chancellor."

"You mean this?" Before Elphaba could bat an eye, Koiyo had appeared uncomfortably close to her, a dagger of gold in her hands, its point just a hair's breath from Elphaba's neck.

"Like I said," she continued. "It's useless in my hands, because I'd never get close enough to use it."

"Then give it to me, and I'll do it for you."

At Elphaba's request, Koiyo released a loud, melodious yet mocking laugh.

"Like I would just hand over the most powerful weapon in all of Oz over to you at your mere request! Besides, you're hardly in any position to be giving orders." The dagger disappeared back into the folds of Koiyo's black robes.

"Which is why I need you - yes, I know, how odd it is that someone as powerful as me _needs_ mere mortals like you, but I do. I know where he's located and I know how to kill him, all I need is someone to do the deed."

"Why can't you..."

"Has being fat with child affecting your hearing, Aelphaba?" Koiyo queried. "I've told you before: his power far outmatches my own, so to fight him face-to-face would be death for me, especially once the crystals start affecting me more than they already have. So can I count on your help?"

"Yes." Glinda said.

"Screw you!" Elphaba scoffed at Koiyo. "You're as useless as Ozma."

Just then, Elphaba found herself lifted up off the ground. A very angry Koiyo was looking at her, one black-nailed finger pointing up at her.

"With that kind of ingratitude, I might as well remove the spells I put around you and let the Chancellor find you and kill you both. Yes!" Koiyo continued, seeing their shocked expressions. "I've been keeping an eye on you two, using what magic I can to keep you out of sight from the Chancellor. Which is considerable, considering that he has the all-seeing Golden Mirror."

Koiyo waved her hand and Elphaba fell to the ground. Glinda ran to her side, keeping her from falling all the way down and on her feet.

"With the crystals rising about Oz, my powers grow weaker." Koiyo said. "But you must go now, while I can still cover your approach. Or...if you wish, I can leave you to your ingratitude and let you fend for yourselves." She smiled mockingly.

Elphaba would not apologize. This woman got under her skin as much as she got under hers as well.

"Just keep doing what you've been doing." she hissed back. Koiyo nodded, then knelt down beside Nessa, a red aura emanating from her hands and entering the horse's body.

"What are you doing to her?"

"This is an invigorating spell," Koiyo said. "It will give her the strength to continue." Once she was done, Nessa rose to her feet, ready to continue. "Follow the fire-ball, it will lead you to where you need to go."

Elphaba and Glinda got back on Nessa's back.

"Oz-speed!" the little blond said, as they took off.

Koiyo simply smiled, before throwing an emerald ball of fire across the sky. Let the little people run and do her bidding, she mused as they rode off toward the Great Kells, following the fire-ball. She had much bigger matters that required more attention than one simple traitor. For now, these could have their day, their moment of fame for defeating the power of the Chancellor.

Kumbricia would have her day.

* * *

><p>"Over there!" Glinda shouted, pointing toward the side of one of the hills. "It explodiated over there!"<p>

Elphaba turned Nessa toward the foot of the Great Kells, on the northern side of the plateau. There she saw the side of the mountain, a large scouring of black upon its side. Bits of green flame still rested upon where the fire-ball had struck, and in the center of the black scouring there was a great hole in the side of the mountain.

"A cave?" Glinda asked. Elphaba nodded, then dismounted off Nessa and walked toward the cave entrance.

"Elphie, wait!"

"What is it?"

"We can't go like this." Glinda said. "This hammer is too heavy for me to carry."

"Then I'll carry it."

"No, no, Elphie! Think of your baby!"

"Glinda, I'm tired of being limited by this damn pregnancy!"

"I won't let you kill your child by straining yourself!" Glinda almost shouted. "Oz knows you've been doing enough of that for the past four months!"

"Then how do we bring the hammer with us?"

"Put it on Nessa?"

"But we can't take Nessa into a cave with us!"

"We've done it before!"

Elphaba sighed, shaking her head in defeat.

"Alright, do it." Glinda heaved the hammer and placed it upon Nessa's back, then led her by means of patting her neck. For Nessa didn't often go with a saddle or reins, and obeyed such commands easily as if they were word of mouth. But, as seen here and before, it meant that being un-horsed was much easier.

As they came to the entrance of the tunnel, they saw that the entrance had been blasted open by the fire-ball. Without another word, they made their way into the darkness of the tunnel. Elphaba used a fire-spell to bring up a single ball of orange flame in her hand to light the way. But even this was not enough, for it did not cast much light and was flickering violently in her hand.

"What's wrong with the fire, Elphie?" Glinda asked fearfully.

"I-I don't know." Elphaba answered uncertainly. "I can barely feel the magic in here."

An unnatural cold, greater than the cold that was inherent to all caves, began to flow around them. The flicker of the fire-ball's light went out all together, replaced by a silvery-black glow emanating from something that was sitting just on the side of the cave-wall. Nessa was pacing uneasily and a cold sweat was coursing down their faces.

"Is that one of those crystals?" Glinda whispered fearfully.

Elphaba nodded. With trembling hands, she removed the hammer from Nessa's back. But as she was about to take it into hers, Glinda's tiny hands took hold of the handle.

"I'll do it, Elphie."

Glinda walked up, her hands feeling the walls of the cave until it landed upon something cool. Taking the hammer in both hands, she struck the cave wall, stumbling back as her hands were shaking with the tremor of her blow. She swung again, but this time she missed the wall all-together and came very close to hitting Elphaba and Nessa.

"Here," Elphaba offered. "Let me do it."

"No, Elphie! I got it!" Glinda tightened her grip on the hammer, gazing in the direction of the glowing light. Once again she swung the hammer. There was a sound of broken glass and she fell upon the dirty floor.

"Did I do it?" she asked.

Elphaba began the very awkward process of trying to bend her knees so she could reach what was upon the ground. Glinda reached over and her hand closed upon something cold and clammy. It was hard, but she felt that whatever it was that was beneath her fingers wasn't really there, or that her hands would disappear inside it if she pushed hard enough.

"Here, I have it." Glinda assured. Elphaba sighed.

They then began feeling their way along the side of the cave-wall, going deeper and deeper into the earth. Though they knew it not, the path began to steadily slope downward as far back as when they first lost sight of the light from the entrance. They were now well within the bowels of the earth, far beneath the surface and beyond light and hope. They continued onward, fearing every second that a sudden drop would end their journey before they had the chance to do good.

After almost an hour in pitch black darkness, Elphaba came to a halt.

"What is it, Elphie?" Glinda whispered. "Why are we stopping?"

"Shh!" Elphaba shushed. "Listen!"

The two remained quiet for a while. Their own breathing was very loud, reverberating off every hard surface in this large tunnel. They spoke in whispers because the sound of their own voices was too loud in this tunnel to permit shouting, but Nessa had no such restraint. Every neigh, every whinny and every snort sent them both jumping in fear at something that might be attacking them. Even the sound of her tail, swooshing idly in the still air, grated their nerves.

But there was another sound, faint and very distant. A constant noise, an eternal rush of something moving just beyond their sight.

"Is that what I think it is?" Glinda gasped.

"Yes, Glinda." Elphaba returned. "Water."

The next few steps were made almost running down the tunnel, with hands on the walls, guiding them down the path that led slowly downward. They rounded a corner and saw a red light glowing from the end of the tunnel just beyond.

"Oh, Elphie!" Glinda whined. "I'm scared!"

"Glinda, it's alright!" Elphaba turned around. "I'm here, I'm with you. You have to be brave, Glin, for both of us!" She bit her lower lip, not wanting to put her dear, silly friend through with what she knew she had to do. But there was no other way, unless Elphaba was ready to put the life of her unborn child in jeopardy; and that she would not do. Therefore, only one other option remained.

"I don't wanna be brave!" Glinda sobbed, tears streaming down her eyes. "I can't do this, Elphie! I'm too scared!"

"Listen to me!" Elphaba now held her friend's little pale face in both of her green hands. "No matter what waits for us at the end of that tunnel, you have to remember that you're Glinda Upland, the bravest woman I know and the best friend I've ever had! You've crossed mountains, gone through darkness and terror, escaped the worst that has been thrown your way, I know you can do this!"

"You do?"

"Glin, there's no one else but you. Now is your moment to shine, to leave baggage behind and do something! This is what I've always wanted to see from you, Glin: to have you succeed me as the protector of Oz. I've never been so proud of you!" She kissed Glinda on the forehead.

"Glin?" the little blond queried.

"That's your nickname!" Elphaba returned. Glinda nodded fiercely, then threw herself into Elphaba's arms.

"Well, then, Elphie, let's do this!"

"Together!"

A tiny white hand, covered in dirt and mud from the cave walls, gripped a slender green one firmly. A pair of blue eyes turned toward the violent red glow, followed by a pair of dark brown eyes turning in the same direction. A single booted foot stepped forward, followed by another from the other person. They were now walking together, toward the red light that was burning from the other end. With Nessa at their side, they felt their way down the filthy, slippery cave-walls. They disappeared into the light.

* * *

><p>The tunnel terminated in a huge cavern with a high ceiling. At the far end of the room, a small antechamber was hidden behind a curtain of water: a rushing waterfall. It was glowing red, like a sea of rubies falling through rays of sunlight. The red light shone throughout the whole room, reflecting off every surface of rock, every spire of crystal. Black crystal stalagmites reached up to the ceiling, creating pillars of powerful energy capable of draining them all in a few moments.<p>

Standing in the middle of this array was the spectral form of Chancellor Okli, now Lord Ikol the Destroyer. He had great iron boots upon his feet, and the Golden Wonders upon his person: the breastplate, the belt, the cloak and the helmet. No body, it appeared, there was beneath the armor, for it seemed to float as if inhabited by some invisible being. Within the dark recesses of the helmet, two red eyes glared out at the new-comers.

"It was foolish of you to come here." Ikol growled. His voice, once low and commanding, was now metallic and grating, though just as menacing. "This place will be your grave."

"Chancellor!" Elphaba called out. "Why are you doing this? You were her loyal adviser!"

"Old promises are meaningless," Ikol retorted. "There is only truth...in power."

"Power to destroy Oz?"

"To unmake all that Ozma has corrupted." Ikol said. "And to re-shape in a new image."

"With no heed to what it will cost the people of Oz?"

"A few insignificant lives?" Ikol laughed in mockery. "The giants were insignificant to Ozma, just a nuisance to be eradicated. No, Elphaba, it matters not who must die for Oz to be reborn..." The red eyes were now looking squarely at her. "Even a mother and her unborn child are expendable, if they stand in my way."

As if on instinct, Elphaba raised her hand and summoned a fire-ball. But the pathetic, coughing sparks that appeared in her hand shocked her greatly.

"Powerless, are we?" he asked, slowly walking toward her. There was suddenly a rush of gold, and before Glinda could utter a cry of alarm, Ikol stood once again in the center of the room. In one hand he held Elphaba by the throat, and in the other, he held Nessa by her large neck.

"The Mirror told me everything," Ikol said, turning to Elphaba. "I know who you are, where you are from..." The eyes then turned to the horse. "And what this means to you!"

With one hand, Ikol tossed Nessa across the cave, where she hit the wall with a sickening neigh. Elphaba shut her eyes against this horrible torture. Did not he have any pity for animals?

"I delved into the darkest depths of magic," Ikol began. "I uncovered things that many would die just watching, and what I learned was that mortals...are weak, and feeble." He looked up at her. "Oh, now what? Does the little green freak not like me hurting her poor little play-thing?"

"Nessa is not a play-thing, you bastard!"

"Isn't she?" Ikol held out a gloved hand in the direction of the horse, and it exploded in spasms of pain, flailing its legs about and neighing fiercely.

"Stop!" Elphaba cried out. "Stop it!"

"Why?" Ikol asked. "I enjoy seeing you mortals writhe in pain!"

Ikol threw Elphaba onto the stone floor, a great golden sword materializing in his hand.

"Don't think I'll be merciful to you because you're with child." Ikol roared. Elphaba was slowly pushing herself up into a leaning position, her eyes having not left Ikol's glowing orbs.

On the far end of the cathedral-sized cavern, Glinda was trying to sneak up on the gold-clad Ikol. She had to do something, had to get close enough to attempt their duty.

"There's one last secret," Ikol stated. "One..." He laughed at Elphaba. "...that even you do not know about."

"What's that?" Elphaba asked. "Why won't you just kill me now that you have the chance, huh?"

"It's easy enough to take a life," Ikol said. "It's much more...enjoyable...to break your spirit."

Ikol held out his right hand in the direction of the horse, and Nessa began neighing even more fearfully, writhing like a live fish on a frying pan. A pale-blue light was glowing around Ikol's hand, flowing toward the body of the fallen horse like a stream of water. Nessa's cries of agony became higher and higher, sounding more and more fey and fearful.

The body of the horse began twisting and contorting as the power surged from Ikol's fist. The mane was growing longer and longer, the head shrinking, the neck shortening, the body shriveling up, the coat whitening and the hooves breaking apart.

"Stop!" Elphaba screamed. "You're hurting...!"

But her eyes exploded as she looked upon the writhing figure. It was no longer a horse, for it was much smaller and looking quite deformed. Yet even so, Elphaba could make out something. The horse's huge brown eyes were gone, replaced with smaller blue orbs that were swimming with tears. The tail was gone, as were many of the significant features that would indicate this thing as even been closely related to a horse. It looked more like something else.

Almost human.

The light vanished, filling the cavern with the red glow of the water-fall. Where the horse had once been, there now huddled the small, pink form of a human with long reddish-brown hair, shivering violently.

"What did you do to Nessa?" Elphaba shouted at Ikol.

"I removed the enchantment," he returned. "Now you get to watch me torture her to death, while you are helpless to save her."

At that moment, a rock struck the side of Ikol's helmet. The red eyes turned to see the one who had done this, and noticed a tiny figure in white travel robes with messy blond hair.

"I won't let her die again!" Glinda Upland shouted, her blue eyes set against the figure.

"Pitiful." Ikol growled.

Raising his right hand, he lifted Glinda into the air with his own power. Suddenly she was being pulled through the air. Elphaba's world seemed to grind to a stand-still as she watched the left hand summon something bright and gold into its clutches.

Glinda was now hovering just before the imposing form of Ikol. The Golden Sword materialized in Ikol's left hand, the six-foot blade running straight through Glinda's stomach.

Elphaba's eyes were now spilling forth tears. Every bad thought, every worst scenario that had ever gone through her mind since the day they parted in the attic, was now come true. Her hands were shaking, even as they went up to cover her gaping mouth.

"Do you like this?" Ikol mocked. "Your stupid little friend goes first, the one you loved more."

"Leave her alone already, you son of a b*tch!" Elphaba screamed at Ikol.

"Good," his low voice purred. "I know your fracture-point. Let's see how much you can endure before your will is finally mine."

Meanwhile, Glinda was wheezing, her diaphragm punctured by the huge blade of the sword. Almost forgotten by the giant specter, whose attention had turned once again to Elphaba.

"Look at me!" she groaned.

The helmed face turned its red gaze at the victim, hanging helplessly from his sword.

Her hand, which had kept a tight grip on something this whole time, now swung forward, throwing the rather innocuous-looking shard straight through the visor of the traitorous Chancellor.

A shard of black crystal.

Ikol's form was shaking as tiny crystals began erupting from its body. Gorging themselves on such raw power, the crystals began growing again, covering his body and encasing the golden armor. The weight was too great and he fell backward, coming to a sitting position as his body was being taken over by crystals. The body was now becoming obscure, a veritable forest of crystals of many shapes, forming something that looked like a giant throne.

Suddenly, there was a dead silence throughout the cave.

* * *

><p><strong>(AN:)**


	16. A Saint's Memorial

**(AN: And with that, my laptop has died. But I'll try to keep updating my stories - it will just take a LOT longer.)**

**(Here is the end of this story which, it seems, was a big failure.)**

* * *

><p><strong>A Saint's Memorial<strong>

Even while Elphaba and Glinda were riding through the Pine Barrens at night, a certain Vinkan prince woke from his coma. Daisy was very excited to see him, but when he asked why his lover and her friend were not there at his bedside vigil, the Munchkin's face became overcast with concern.

"What? What is it?" Fiyero asked. "Where are they?"

Daisy looked rather taken back, as if she was the sole carrier of some great secret that she was now being pressured into telling against her desire. Her foot pushed against the floor absent-mindedly as she kept her eyes down.

"Daisy, tell me where they are."

The middle-aged Munchkin drew out the letter and Fiyero snatched it out of her hand. Upon peeling it open, he noticed the tiny, scrawl of his beloved Elphaba's hand-writing.

"I haven't looked at it, in case you were wondering." Daisy commented, though Fiyero was too wrapped up in the letter to pay much attention to what she was saying.

"Oh sweet Oz!" Fiyero breathed. Without another word, he tossed the letter to the floor and began rummaging around his bed.

"Wait, what are you doing now, wild man?" Daisy asked.

"I'm going after her!" he exclaimed.

"Oh! Then I'm coming with you!"

"No, you can't!"

"I have to see that Glinda gets back safely!" Daisy walked over to their bed and picked u p a medium-sized back-pack, into which she began stuffing clothes.

"Wait! We don't need _all_ this!" Fiyero exclaimed as Daisy stuffed a red-and-black dress into the back-pack.

"This was a gift from the Eminent Thropp!" Daisy exclaimed. "I don't know what rules you Winkes have out west, but here in civilized Munchkinland, we don't return gifts!" She continued packing, sighing and muttering things to herself.

"Are we ready?" Fiyero asked nervously. "Alright! Let's go!"

"Wait, wait, wait, wild man!" Daisy exclaimed. "The stables are _this_ way…" She said, indicating to the hall opposite their room. "Unless you plan on _running_ after her!"

He rolled his eyes and set his foot-steps after the Munchkin-woman, who muttered loud enough for him to hear:

"If it weren't for ol' Daisy Fromica, wild man would run off without his brains one of these days!"

He smiled, knowing just how true her words really were.

* * *

><p>The sound of water falling down from the entrance of the tunnel was all the noise that could be heard in this dark cavern beneath the earth. Elphaba was crawling on all fours from the crystal formation – looking like a huge semi-transparent throne of crystals – to where her dear, beloved friend lay. The Sword had vanished, but a dark, crimson stain still covered the lower part of her dress. Elphaba lifted the little blond's head up off the filthy stone floor as she knelt beside her.<p>

"Glinda!" she sobbed. "Oh, Glinda, I'm so sorry!" Elphaba no longer cared that she had to pretend to be allergic to water, or that she was 'the strong one', her heart had been torn out and tears streamed freely down her face.

"Elphie," Glinda sighed feebly. "Don't cry for me…no one…mourns the wicked!"

"Glinda, don't…"

"It's true…" Her breathing was ragged and slow. "I…was the bad witch."

"No, you weren't," Elphaba insisted. "You saved Oz. I'm so proud of you!" The little blond's hand reached up feebly, trying to wipe the tears away from her green friend's face, but she had not the strength. Elphaba's long green fingers closed around the tiny pale-pink hand. It was cold, more so than Glinda had ever been. She lifted the hand up to her face, trying in vain to warm it.

"You've got to hang on!" she insisted. "You've got to keep fighting, Glinda! I need you!"

"Elphie…"

"Yes?"

"I…" she breathed, struggling to stay above the cold that was rising up around her. "I'm…n-n…I'm not…g…g-g…g…"

When she finally got the words out of her lips, a cold sweat ran down Elphaba's face and her eyes doubled in size.

* * *

><p>No matter how fast Nessa had been, the unicorns of Oz were faster by far. The rest of the night, Fiyero and Daisy rode atop Bfan. For a steady old beast, he could run fast when the need required it. Now they were galloping hard across the corn-fields of Munchkinland while the night wasted away around them.<p>

By morning's light, they had passed the Pine Barrens and had the Restwater Lake on their left. Though neither of them was willing to attempt it, Fiyero doubted not that, if the need arose, Bfan could run across the water as easily as across land. But this was probably just wishful thinking, or some crazy fantasy brought on by loss of blood or lack of sleep.

When they crossed the Gilikin River at its head, just a few miles north of the Shale Shallows fort, they saw that the garrison had been raised up, as if on the alert. Upon seeing this, and remembering what they had done to him – a simple Vinkan – when they first found him, he decided that getting beat up again wasn't worth it, especially since they were already so close.

"Hyah!" he shouted to Bfan. "Ride on! We're almost there!"

With almost frightening speed, the unicorn shot off between the Kellswater and south-western bank of the Gilikin River. Cries from the fort made them fear that they had been spotted, and Daisy, for one, did not like the idea of getting captured by Gilikin raiders again.

"It's bad enough getting hauled back there at my age," she commented, while holding onto Fiyero's waist for dear life at the back of Bfan. "But those damn tallies just make it worse with all their short jokes and the cruel things they do to their prisoners!"

"I think I'll take your word for it!" Fiyero returned.

After passing the Shallows fort and winding their way southward, with the Gilikin River on the right and the Vinkus River on the left, they were now on their way toward the plateau that once housed the castle of Kiamo Ko. The gray hours of the afternoon were now upon them.

Just then, there was a flash of green fire that shot off into the hills. Upon seeing this, Fiyero kicked Bfan in the flanks and the unicorn shot off faster than before. Night was falling down upon them as they continued on, the land growing steeper and steeper and more rocky and arid.

There was the great hole in the side of the cliffs, still smoldering with green fire. Without another thought, Fiyero threw himself off Bfan's back and started trudging down into the cave.

"Wait a minute, you crazy wild man!" Daisy shouted and she tried to push herself very carefully down off the back of the unicorn. "You can't walk in there without some kind of light!"

"We don't have time for this!" he shouted. "If something's happened to Elp…to Aelphaba and the baby, they may not have time to wait for us! We've got to go now!"

Daisy finally fell down off the side of the unicorn, dusting her skirt off as she pushed herself up onto her feet. She looked a little groggy after the heavy ride, like she had too much to drink.

"We…" she pointed out, raising her finger up. "need…to rest! We're no good to them if we're half dead from exhaustion when we find them!"

Fiyero sighed, then collapsed onto the ground next to the cave entrance, feeling totally defeated. She was right.

* * *

><p>Night came at last, during which they made a small fire. Fiyero knew exactly which straw-grasses made the best fires, and Daisy had some skill with making fires and before long, they were warming up next to the vibrant fire.<p>

"We need a torch," she said, while the fire still burned hot. "I don't know about you, wild man, but I can't hold blazing straw-grass in my hand."

Unfortunately, this presented something of a problem. There were no trees past the Vinkus River, only miles of savannah-like grassland. Without wood, they could not have a torch. Fortunately, he had learned some tips of survival from the fellow clansmen of the Arjiki clan. He found the largest straw-grasses on the slope of the hill and tied them together. He then took a piece of cloth from his clothing – and noticed just how ragged they were from such a long journey – and wrapped it around one end. This end he held while he placed the other end into the fire, igniting it among the flames.

"That's a neat trick, wild man." Daisy commented. "But what happens when the flame hits the cloth?"

"Hopefully we won't have to be down there that long." Fiyero stated. "Come on, let's go."

"But it's night-time!"

"That doesn't matter in a cave." Fiyero answered. "Besides…" He pointed to the sky, which was covered with clouds. "I don't think morning would make much of a difference."

Fiyero walked towards the gaping mouth of the cave, while Daisy picked up the back-pack of supplies from off Bfan's back and walked after him as noiselessly as she could.

In the end, the torch burned out before they reached the end of the tunnel, which snaked its way ever downward into the bowels of the earth. The sound of booming echoed from the depths of the tunnel, and Fiyero and Daisy hastened their steps, walking with hands upon the walls like blind men.

At last they came to the exit of the tunnel, into the room that burned with red light. In the center they saw the great crystalline throne, gleaming emptily, before them. It looked empty at first, but as they gazed deeper into it, they thought they could see red eyes looking out at them. Both Fiyero and Daisy jumped back in surprise.

It was then that the Munchkin woman noticed the green woman kneeling over a prone body, and a little beyond it, another one curled up in a ball, quite forgotten, on the other side of the cavern.

"Aelphaba!" she cried out. The voice was loud enough to echo through the whole room, so they all heard it. The green woman turned her face away, then rose up and turned to Daisy.

"What's happened?" she asked.

Elphaba said nothing, but walked almost wearily toward Fiyero. He ran toward her and took her in his arms, feeling her face press against his. She was sobbing quietly into his shoulder.

"Oh no!" Daisy cried out. They turned and saw the little Munchkin now standing over Glinda, trying to shake her awake.

"Leave her alone!" Elphaba returned. "She's dead!"

"No, no! She can't be dead!" Daisy refused to believe it. She knelt at Glinda's side, praying to Lurline that she bring her servant back to life.

Fiyero also looked rather shaken up by the truth.

"Is she really dead?" he whispered.

"I was there with her," Elphaba returned. "To the very end." She bit her lip, trying hard to keep the tears from falling."

"What happened?" Daisy asked. "How did she die?"

Elphaba turned to the little Munchkin woman. Why she was saying this, she did not know. Instinct told her to say nothing, since they were in the past and any interference might ruin time as they knew it. But still the words came out.

"The Chancellor," she began. "He betrayed us all. Glinda sacrificed herself to destroy him." She pointed to the large crystal throne.

"A true servant of Lurline," Daisy pondered. She turned her eyes away and saw the little thing left quite abandoned by the side.

"Are you so grief-stricken," she asked frustrated. "That you can't clothe a poor girl? Oz, you really _are_ helpless without me!" Daisy picked up the nearest thing she could find, the back-pack, and pulled out the red-and-black dress. This she placed over the little thing's body.

Elphaba, meanwhile, was whispering something into Fiyero's ear. He nodded, and remained steadfast while she walked toward the sound of the waterfall.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Daisy queried. "You _are_ insane!"

"What do you mean?" Elphaba asked, not turning her face away from the waterfall curtained tunnel.

"You can't go that way, it's blocked!" she said. "And you're allergic to water!"

"Trust me," Elphaba said. "I'll return." _Why in Oz did I say that_, she asked herself.

"When?" Daisy returned.

"Not yet" was all that Elphaba said. She stepped into the waterfall and was suddenly lost from view.

* * *

><p>Outside the cave, the Gilikin Raiders were encircling the entrance, ready for battle. Behind them, Azalea Thropp led an army of Munchkins. Upon discovering the departure of her guests, she went to get them back, especially the green woman. Once the "tallies" got sight of the Munchkins, they turned their weapons on them.<p>

"Back to the farm, Shorty!" one of the Gilikinese soldiers shouted.

"We've come to rescue our friends!"

"What a coincidence!" Captain Tenmeadows smiled deviously. "We're here to bring back a couple of fugitives. If they're your friends that means you're harboring fugitives from justice!"

"Gilikinese justice is no justice!" another Munchkin shouted.

"And you crossed through Gilikin lands!" Tenmeadows added. "You've as good as declared war!"

"We don't want war," Azalea returned. "Just our friends. Leave us in peace or we will fight!"

The raiders laughed.

"Fight?" Tenmeadows asked. "What fight could a bunch of midgets offer us?"

"That's _Munchkins_ to _you_, long shanks!" one shouted angrily.

"Why fight?" another raider asked. "We're worth two of them any day!"

"I'll shove those words down your throat!"

"Like you can even _reach_ my throat!"

"Do you need a ladder?"

"Maybe one of your little friends could let you stand on his shoulders, eh?"

The raiders were in stitches with laughter, while the Munchkins were livid at the amount of insults being thrown their way. They were fingering their pitch-forks and hoes, ready to strike without warning or permission.

"Look!" one Gilikin boy with a very high-pitched, nasally voice, cried out, pointing to the cave.

They all turned, and saw a very dejected-looking Munchkin woman walking out, dragging a beautiful, pale Gilikin woman behind her.

"_There_ they are!" Tenmeadows shouted.

"Protect them!"

"They're _our _prisoners!"

"And under _my _protection!" Azalea indicated, pointing to herself.

"I don't recognize _your_ authority, traitor!"

"_**Shut up!**_"

All eyes turned to the little Munchkin woman standing at the entrance of the cave.

"Can't we all just get along?" she shouted. "Look what Lurline has done for us! She brought us one of her own – the lady Glinda – to bring her grace to all of Oz! She sacrificed herself against a great enemy, greater than any Oz has ever seen…she gave her life for _you!_ All of you: Munchkin and Gilikin alike! You shame Lurline by your bickering!"

Daisy, her eyes dripping with tears, had nothing more to say. Her throat was dry and hoarse from shouting and sobbing all the way through the cave.

Looking upon the poor thing at her feet, the faces of every Munchkin and Gilikin raider fell down to the earth in sadness. A single, pearly tear welled up in Azalea's left eye.

"I think," Azalea stated. "We should bury her somewhere."

"I agree." Captain Tenmeadows said, walking up to Azalea. He was actually an inch or two shorter than she. He knelt before her. "Our fort is but a short distance from this place. Let us take this woman...Glinda...and bury her there, between our two great lands. She will not belong to Munchkinland or Gilikin, but to all of Oz. We will abandon that fort, and make of it a memorial for her."

The Gilikin raiders knelt down before the fallen body, and the Munchkin militia doffed their farmer's caps and hung their heads low.

"So it shall be," Azalea said. She then walked over to the body of Glinda and tried to lift it up off the ground. Seeing that she was struggling, Tenmeadows rose and offered his strength as well. Behind them, humble Daisy Fromica followed on behind, holding the little blond's legs up as the two taller ones carried her down the plateau.

On all sides, she was surrounded by the soldiers of both Munchkinland and Gilikin: united at last. Silent prayers to Lurline were said among them as they carried Glinda's body down the plateau. Once enemies were now united in their common faith of Lurline, and chose to cast aside their weapons and hatred to bury one they both loved. To that fort in the Shale Shallows they went, where they laid Glinda's body in a casket of stone, with her likeness carved upon the sarcophagus. It was abandoned, and no longer would raiders use it to enslave the people of the lower lands. It was given a new name.

The Cloister of St. Glinda.

It was the first step toward unifying Oz. And though that truth would not be realized in a hundred years, or even three hundred years, what it began it eventually saw through. Oz would never be the same again.

* * *

><p>Fiyero Tiggular had one last thing to do.<p>

Elphaba had given him instructions, though nothing about Glinda's body had been specified. Daisy was just so inconsolable, that he did not have the heart to tell her no, and let her take the body. She was dead, so what good or ill could she do to the future now? He walked over to the pale figure, wrapped in the red-and-black dress, and picked her up with both hands. He turned his direction toward the waterfall into which Elphaba had vanished. No doubt Daisy would spin fine tales about Elphaba's disappearance to whoever asked.

But now he had to disappear as well. With the little form in his arms, he walked toward the waterfall, feeling the cool water splash down upon both of them. Behind the curtain of water there was a smaller room, shallower and with a lower ceiling. At the farthest end, something loomed, something that was beyond the capabilities of Oz at this time. Clockwork gears ground eternally against each other, steam poured out of the metallic apparatus, shaped like a giant face, and the source of the red light was revealed: two great eyes atop the apparatus. Two metallic wings rested upon a large body with a giant round face of dim glass. Three great hands moved upon the face, with thirteen numeric divisions.

Fiyero was shocked.

Here was the Time Dragon Clock.

Without another thought, he stepped into the opening that appeared in the face.

**THE END**

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><p><strong>(AN: If you were waiting until the end to review, now's your chance)<strong>

**(I've definitely left a lot of things ambiguous in this story, so please ask. I'm more than willing to reveal [that which I am able to do so]. I'll try to get the next story in the _Ozian Adventures_ series up as soon as possible: it will be entitled _The Warrior and the Witch_.)**

**(Please leave your thoughts, reviews, comments, questions, concerns...whatever!)**

**(Phew! Now that _that_ is done, maybe I can get some other stories completed!)**


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